The Old Mill
1849
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
75.9 × 107 cm (29 7/8 × 42 1/8 in.)
Classification
painting
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
30701
Art Historical Context
George Inness's *The Old Mill* (9), an oil on measuring nearly 30 by 42 inches, captures the serene beauty of the American countryside during a pivotal era in landscape painting. Painted when Inness was just 25, this work reflects his early career influences from the Hudson River School, a movement that celebrated the sublime grandeur of the New World wilderness. The titular mill, nestled in a pastoral setting, symbolizes the harmonious tension between human industry and untamed nature—a recurring theme in mid-19th-century American art amid rapid industrialization. Inness, often called the "f...
About the Artist
George Inness · 1825–1894
George Inness (1825–1894) was an American landscape painter regarded as one of the most important figures in nineteenth-century American art, bridging the Hudson River School tradition and a more personal, spiritually-inflected vision of nature. Born near Newburgh, New York, he received limited formal training, studying briefly with Régis François Gignoux, but was largely self-taught, developing h...