Durand named this painting after William Cullen Bryant's poem "Thanatopsis," a meditation on death and nature. Ancient trees, towering cliffs and a low sun give the landscape a quiet, elegiac mood.
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Landscape—Scene from "Thanatopsis"
Asher Brown Durand · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Asher Brown Durand, 1850. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access (public domain).