Levi Wells Prentice (1851–1935)

An Early Autumn Landscape is a fine example of the lively and energetic qualities that Prentice could achieve in landscape painting. He devoted special attention to the foreground, where reeds, grasses, and ferns grow on the banks of a small stream. In the middle ground a bird alights on the glassy surface of the stream. The leaves of a few trees have already turned, and the tree farthest to the left is half orange and half green. Prentice chose a low vantage point in order to focus the viewer’s attention on the foreground, but he also included a glimpse of a distant hill in the upper left-hand corner.