Jasper Francis Cropsey (February 18, 1823 – June 22, 1900) was an important American

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

of the Hudson River School.

Early years

Jasper Francis Cropsey The Narrows from Staten Island detail 1 Amon Carter Museum

Cropsey was born on his father Jacob Rezeau Cropsey's farm in Rossville on

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey b ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, the oldest of eight children. As a young boy, Cropsey had recurring periods of poor health. While absent from school, Cropsey taught himself to draw. His early drawings included architectural sketches and landscapes drawn on notepads and in the margins of his schoolbooks.

Career

Trained as an architect, he set up his own office in 1843. Cropsey studied watercolor and life drawing at the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the ...

under the instruction of Edward Maury and first exhibited there in 1844. A year later he was elected an associate member and turned exclusively to landscape painting; shortly after he was featured in an exhibition entitled "Italian Compositions". Cropsy traveled in Europe from 1847–1849, visiting England, France, Switzerland, and Italy. He was elected a full member of the Academy in 1851. Cropsey was a personal friend of Henry Tappan, the president of the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1852 to 1863. At Tappan's invitation, he traveled to

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

in 1855 and produced two paintings, one of the

Detroit Observatory The Detroit Observatory is located on the corner of Observatory and Ann streets in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was built in 1854, and was the first scientific research facility at the University of Michigan and one of the oldest observatories of its ty ...

, and a landscape of the campus. He went abroad again in 1856, and resided seven years in London, sending his pictures to the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

and to the International exhibition of 1862. Returning home, he opened a studio in New York and specialized in autumnal landscape paintings of the northeastern United States, often idealized and with vivid colors. Cropsey co-founded, with ten fellow artists, the American Society of Painters in Water Colors in 1866. He also made the architectural designs for the stations of the elevated railways in New York.

Hudson River School

By the Sea Lulworth-Jasper Francis Cropsey-1857

Cropsey's interest in architecture continued throughout his life and was a strong influence in his painting, most evident in his precise arrangement and outline of forms. But Cropsey was best known for his lavish use of color and, as a first-generation member from the Hudson River School, painted autumn landscapes that startled viewers with their boldness and brilliance. As an artist, he believed landscapes were the highest art form and that nature was a direct manifestation of God. He also felt a patriotic affiliation with nature and saw his paintings as depicting the rugged and unspoiled qualities of America. Jasper Cropsey died in anonymity but was rediscovered by galleries and collectors in the 1960s. Today, Cropsey's paintings are found in many major American museums, including the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of ch ...

, the

North Carolina Museum of Art The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) is an art museum in Raleigh, North Carolina. It opened in 1956 as the first major museum collection in the country to be formed by state legislation and funding. Since the initial 1947 appropriation that ...

, the Currier Museum of Art, the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

, the

University of Michigan Museum of Art The University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor, Michigan with is one of the largest university art museums in the United States. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall ori ...

, the

Museum of the Shenandoah Valley The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley is located at 901 Amherst Street, Winchester, Virginia. The Museum endeavours to preserve and enrich the cultural life and heritage of the Valley. Located on the largest green space in the city of Winchester, th ...

, the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 19 ...

, the

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission. Overview ...

, the

Detroit Institute of Arts The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers with a major renovation and expansion project comple ...

, the

Timken Museum of Art The Timken Museum of Art is a fine art museum, established in 1965 and located at 1500 El Prado in Balboa Park in San Diego, California, close to the San Diego Museum of Art. History The groundwork for the museum was laid in 1951 when Walter ...

in San Diego, the

Honolulu Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single co ...

, the

Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the Fin ...

, the

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 113,000 works ...

, and the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...

. Works by Cropsey also hang in the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

. Cropsey and his wife Maria are buried in

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, is the final resting place of numerous famous figures, including Washington Irving, whose 1820 short story " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in the adjacent burying ground at the Old Dutch ...

in Sleepy Hollow,

Works

Some of his works include '' Jedburgh Abbey''; ''Pontaine Marshes'' (1847); ''Backwoods of America'' (1857); ''Richmond Hill'' (1862); ''Indian Summer'' (1866); ''Greenwood Lake'' (1875); '' Lake Nemi in Italy'' (1879); ''Old Church at Arreton, Isle of Wight'' (1880); '' Ramapo Valley'' (1881); ''Autumn on the Hudson'' (1860): ''Wawayanda Valley'' (1883); ''Spring-time in England'' (1884); ''October in Ramapo Valley'' (1885); ''Autumn on Lake George'', and ''A Showery Day'' (1886). His architectural works included Manhattan

brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Type ...

s, the since-demolished 14th Street station for the

IRT Sixth Avenue Line The IRT Sixth Avenue Line, often called the Sixth Avenue Elevated or Sixth Avenue El, was the second elevated railway in Manhattan in New York City, following the Ninth Avenue Elevated. The line ran south of Central Park, mainly along Six ...

in Manhattan, and St. Luke's Episcopal Church on

. File:The-spirit-of-war.jpg, ''The Spirit of War'', 1851 File:Jasper Francis Cropsey - High Torne Mountain, Rockland County, New York.jpg, ''High Torne Mountain'', Rockland County, New York, 1851 File:Jasper Francis Cropsey - The Coast of Genoa - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Coast of Genoa'', 1854 File:Jasper Francis Cropsey - Catskill Mountain House - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Catskill Mountain House'', 1855 File:Cropsey, Jasper Francis - Summer, Lake Ontario - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Summer, Lake Ontario'', 1857 File:Autumn--On the Hudson River-1860-Jasper Francis Cropsey.jpg, ''Autumn on the Hudson'', 1860 File:Jasper Francis Cropsey - Autumn on Greenwood Lake - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Autumn on Greenwood Lake'', 1861 File:Jasper Francis Cropsey The Narrows from Staten Island Amon Carter Museum.jpg, ''The Narrows from Staten Island'', 1868 File:The Valley of Wyoming MET DT4598.jpg, '' The Valley of Wyoming'', 1865, Metropolitan Museum of Art File:JasperCropsey-Greenwood Lake 1875.jpg, ''Greenwood Lake'', 1875,

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds ...

File:Greenwood Lake by Jasper Francis Cropsey, 1879.jpg, ''Greenwood Lake'', 1879 File:JasperCropseyUniversityOfMichigan.jpg, ''University of Michigan'', Jasper Cropsey, 1855,

Some of Cropsey's painting command high prices at auctions. ''Greenwood Lake'' (1879) sold at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémi ...

auction in 2012 for $422,500. Sunset, Camel's Hump, Lake Champlain (1877) sold for $314,500 in 2011.

Collection

Cropsey's home and studio,

Ever Rest Ever Rest is the home and studio of Jasper F. Cropsey, a painter in the Hudson River School. The historic house museum is located in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York and was built in 1835. Cropsey acquired the property in 1886 and built an artist ...

, in

Hastings-on-Hudson, New York Hastings-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County located in the southwestern part of the town of Greenburgh in the state of New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of midtown Man ...

, has the largest permanent collection of Cropsey's work, collected by great-granddaughter Barbara Newington. The collection has been on display since 1977 and the founding of the

Newington-Cropsey Foundation The Newington-Cropsey Foundation (NCF) is a nonprofit private organization based in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. The foundation's aim is to maintain and preserve the works of Jasper Cropsey and the art movement he was a part of, the Hudson River ...

Personal life

Cropsey married Maria Cooley in May 1847. He had met her during one of his visits to

Greenwood Lake Greenwood Lake is an interstate lake approximately long, straddling the border of New York and New Jersey. It is located in the Town of Warwick and the Village of Greenwood Lake, New York (in Orange County) and West Milford, New Jersey (in ...

after 1843. Maria's father, Isaac P. Cooley, was a justice of the peace from 1837 to 1839 and became a judge over the

New Jersey Court of Common Pleas The New Jersey Court of Common Pleas was a civil court of general jurisdiction, which existed in New Jersey from 1704 until 1947. The Court of Common Pleas was established by an ordinance promoted by New Jersey's first royal governor Edward Hy ...

in 1840. Cooley then became a member of New Jersey State House of Assembly from 1860 to 1861. Cooley offered to build Cropsey a studio on his estate but the offer was declined. In 1869 Cropsey built a 29-room

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

mansion and studio in

Warwick, New York Warwick is a town in the southwestern part of Orange County, New York, United States. Its population was 32,027 at the 2020 census. The town contains three villages ( Florida, Greenwood Lake, and Warwick) and eight hamlets ( Amity, Bellvale ...

that he named

Aladdin Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part o ...

. As well as living in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, he spent part of his time in Warwick until the mansion was sold in 1884. In 1884 Cropsey first rented then in 1885 bought a house at

he named ''

''. He and Maria had two children: Mary Cortelyou Cropsey Howells (b. September. 5, 1850, d. July 30, 1921) and Lilly Frances Cropsey (b. July 16, 1859, d. February 21, 1889). Cropsey lived at Ever Rest until his death on June 22, 1900, and his wife Maria lived there until she died in 1906, having been married to "Frank" for 54 years.Newington-Cropsey Foundation
Retrieved August 28, 2017

Legacy and honors

*The

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Liberty Ship Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Ma ...

was named in his honor.

Monuments

File:Jasper Francis Cropsey Monument 2010.JPG, Headstone in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery File:NCF Ever Rest.jpg, Cropsey's home

File:NCF Gallery of Art.jpg, The

's Gallery of Art, a museum of Cropsey's works

References

Sources

External links

Works at The Athenaeum

Newington Cropsey Foundation

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

Alfred Brophy, Property and Progress: Antebellum Landscape Art and Property Law, ''McGeorge Law Review'' 40 (2008): 651

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza
Biography and Works
Reynolda House Museum of American Art

''American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School''
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Cropsey (see index)

at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cropsey, Jasper 1823 births 1900 deaths 19th-century American painters American male painters American landscape painters Burials at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Hudson River School painters Luminism (American art style) People from Hastings-on-Hudson, New York People from Rossville, Staten Island Painters from New York City Painters from New York (state) 19th-century American male artists

Early years

Career

Hudson River School

Works

Collection

Personal life

Legacy and honors

Monuments

See also

References

Sources

External links