[1]: ix  His reputation grew substantially during the second half of the twentieth century, and the curator Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr. remarked in 1992 that "Heade has been recognized during the last fifty years as one of the most original and most talented of all American artists.

[7] According to Stebbins, "during the early 1870s Heade moved from conventional still-life compositions, in which he would typically paint a vase of flowers resting on a table indoors, to a highly unusual format–hardly a 'still-life' at all–where he would depict orchids and hummingbirds as they existed in the tropical wilderness.

[7] While Heade pioneered the portrayal of hummingbirds in art during his trip to South America,[7] writers such as Mabel Loomis Todd and Emily Dickinson depicted them in their work as well.

[8] Heade's depictions of these exotic birds are small, "measuring only about twenty inches on their longest edge," giving the work a feeling of intimacy.

"[1]: 91  This symbolism of the orchid is corroborated because, according to art historian Barbara Novak, "the flowers themselves are suggestively configured and painted with a variety of stroking and touches.

According to Timothy A. Eaton, as Darwin's ideas were becoming more popular at the time, "the orchid was held up as an example of his theory’s validity because of its remarkable diversity attributed to the need for adaptation in the struggle for survival.

[8] Orchid and Hummingbirds on a Mountain Lake is not currently on view, but is in the collection of the McMullen Museum at Boston College as part of Peter S. Lynch's donation of 27 paintings and 3 drawings.

[11] Lynch and his wife Carolyn were fond of nature paintings, especially Orchid and Hummingbirds Near a Mountain Lake, which Stebbins referred to as one of the "masterpieces of the collection.