A lake in the foreground reflects the scene with serene clarity, while a lone figure in a boat drifts near the shore, adding a contemplative dimension to the composition.

[2] "The painting seems to exude a rosy light that reaches out to the viewer as [one] bends forward to examine the surface", writes Gregg Hertzlieb, the former Brauer Museum director and curator.

[3] Church sketched throughout southern Vermont in 1849, completing more than ten paintings that year, including A Mountain Tempest, The Plague of Darkness, West Rock, New Haven, Above the Clouds at Sunrise, View in Pittsford, Vermont, New England Landscape (Evening after a Storm), The Harp of the Winds (A Passing Storm), Morning, Sunset, and Lower Falls, Rochester, as only a small selection.

Valparaiso University, facing financial pressures amidst declining enrollment and a deficit, announced plans to sell the painting as part of an effort to fund dormitory renovations to attract new students.

Instead, the proposed sale aimed to direct funds toward non-art-related expenditures, provoking strong opposition from faculty, students, and the wider art community.