American Art Collaborative

Edward Bannister painted this landscape toward the end of his long career. The focus of the peaceful country scene is the break in the clouds. Light played a prominent role in many of Bannister’s works, reflecting a deep Christian faith that sustained him throughout his life. He found comfort in his long walks in the country in search of views that would make good paintings. His desire to capture God’s presence in nature was shared by numerous nineteenth-century landscape artists, who followed the advice of America’s first great landscape painter, Thomas Cole, to be more than “mere leaf painters.