Winter in New England

Snow lies thick across every surface of this quiet New England farm, from the distant rolling hills to the weathered roof of the barn at left. George Henry Durrie painted the scene in 1860, and winter days like this one were clearly close to his heart. A horse tugs a small sleigh past the barn while two bundled figures pause to talk in the cold, and off to the right a half-frozen stream spills over rocks. The bare, gnarled trees and heavy gray sky settle a hush over the whole picture, the kind of stillness familiar to anyone who has waited out a long snowy season.

Durrie spent his career in Connecticut and built his name almost entirely on rural winter scenes such as this. His approach fit right in with mid-1800s American landscape painting, favoring the small rhythms of country life over sweeping drama. The most surprising twist came after his death in 1863, when the celebrated printmakers Currier and Ives reproduced several of his paintings as prints. Those images spread onto Christmas cards and holiday decorations by the thousands, so his snowy New England reached far more homes than he ever could have guessed, even if his name faded from view.