The Hudson River School painters were not realists in the strict sense. By the mid-1800’s when these paintings were made, the real world was already looking much different than their depictions of it. Our valley was filling with cities, farms, trains, steamships, factories and mills; the forests were being clear-cut for lumber, fuel, mining and leather tanning. Rather than a literal depiction, they painted a picture of the land as they envisioned it; how they wanted us to see it; and how I still see it today thanks to their vision.