The Lackawanna Valley
1856 · Oil on canvas · National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
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This print

About this work
- Artist
- George Inness (1825–1894)
- Year
- 1856
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 86 × 127.5 cm
- Collection
- National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
- Movement
- Hudson River School
A boy lies in the grass on a hillside dotted with freshly cut tree stumps and looks down on a train steaming across a new bridge towards the first roundhouse of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad at Scranton, Pennsylvania, with wooded hills beyond. The railroad's president, John Jay Phelps, commissioned the picture around 1855 as an advertisement for a line that would carry Pennsylvania coal to new markets, and Inness delivered it in 1856. The stumps tell the true story: a valley once densely forested, home for centuries to the Lenape, cleared for industry. Yet the painting is tender rather than critical, its soft light absorbing the machine into the landscape. Inness reacquired it in 1891 and it passed to his daughter; it is now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A boy in the grass watching a train cross a valley of tree stumps in soft light, for a study, hallway or living room at 24×16 or 36×24 in black or natural oak. Sage, cream or warm grey; it suits a room with railway history.
- Style
- Hudson River School painting
- Era
- 19th century (1856)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Mood
- calm
- Rooms
- living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. Prints at 18×12, 24×16, 36×24 in — 18×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×16 above a console or sideboard; 36×24 as the statement piece above a sofa or headboard.
Framing. Printed edge to edge: a slim black or natural oak frame right to the image, or let the canvas wrap do the framing.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Lackawanna Valley in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Lackawanna Valley painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.












