One of his early landscapes is now before me. I think it must have been
painted anterior to his sojourn in Rome, owing to the coldness of the
coloring. It represents a scene on the Hudson near Fishkill, with some
cattle in the foreground, and a rather bold-looking mountain on the
opposite side of the river. The clouds above the mountain are light and
fleecy; the foliage soft and graceful; the cattle also are fine, but the
effect is like a chilly spring day when one requires a winter overcoat.
An allegorical piece, illustrating Heine's fir-tree dreaming of the palm,
has a much pleasanter effect, although it represents a wintry scene.

His art improved greatly in Paris, and he also wrote a number of short
poems which his friend, James Russell Lowell, published in the
_Atlantic Monthly_. In 1856 George L. Stearns sent him an order for
a painting, which Cranch executed the following year, and wrote Mr.
Stearns this explanation concerning it, in a very interesting letter
dated Paris, March 18, 1857:

"Your picture is done and is quite a favorite with those who have seen
it. In fact, I think so well of it that I shall probably send it to the
Exposition, which opens soon. After that it shall be sent to you. It is
an oak and a sunset--a warm and low-toned picture--and I am sure you
will like it."

This landscape represents two vigorous oak trees by the bank of a river,
with a sunset seen through the branches, and reflected in the water. The
scene is remarkably like a similar one on Concord River, about two
hundred yards below the spot where Hawthorne and Channing discovered the
body of the schoolmistress who drowned herself, as Hawthorne supposed,
from lack of sympathy. It seems as if the original sketch must have been