James McDougal Hart (1828-1901) "Cattle at Water's Edge" Original Painting c.1890s Original oil on panel. Dimensions 8" x 5.5". The frame measures 11" x 8". Signed in the lower right corner. Very good antique condition. Born in Kilmarnock, Scotland, James Hart was a leading figure of the second generation Hudson River School painters and was known for idyllic landscapes, especially with cows. His family teased him about his painting of farm animals, saying he knew little about them first hand. In the 1840s and 1850s, he also painted panoramic, luminous landscapes in meticulous details with many figures including farmers and children. The idea was to suggest that rural America was an idyllic place. Of his cow paintings, G.W. Sheldon wrote in American Painters: "For cows and oxen, he has the fullest sympathy. Their thoughts which are not men's thoughts, their ways, which are not men's ways, and their faces which do not depend for interest upon any human likeness or suggestion, have been the objects of his studious love."