The artwork titled “Long Island Landscape after a Shower of Rain” is an oil on canvas painting by the artist William Merritt Chase. It dates back to the period between 1885 and 1889 and is representative of the Impressionism movement. As a landscape genre painting, it captures the essence of the scenery post rain, particularly on Long Island where the artist was known to work and live for parts of his life.
The artwork presents a verdant landscape, poised under a vast sky that is beginning to clear after a rain shower. The painting is dominated by cool, earthy greens and blues which suggest a sense of freshness and renewal typical after rainfall. A calm body of water, which appears to be a river or stream, meanders through the center of the composition, reflecting the light sky above. The diagonal lines of the water’s banks create a perspective that draws the viewer’s eye into the depth of the scene.
The topography is marked with clumps of lush foliage and trees that appear to be still slick with wetness, enhancing the rich variations in the hue and texture across the plane. The trees conspire to create a focal point in the upper right quadrant of the painting where a denser mass of vegetation stands out against the sky. The sky itself is depicted with loose, expressive brushstrokes that convey the transient nature of clearing clouds. Chase’s use of light and shadow imbues the scene with a transient quality, capturing a specific moment of natural beauty which is characteristic of the Impressionist endeavor to depict scenes of contemporary life and the changing qualities of light.
Overall, Chase’s work exemplifies Impressionist techniques through his outdoor painting, his interest in the effects of light, and his loose, energetic brushwork which comes together in this serene depiction of Long Island’s landscape.
