Painted riverscapes such as Claude Monet s impressions of the Seine, Isaak Levitan s Volga views, or Thomas Cole s Hudson scenery became iconic not least because they embodied nationalist ideas about place and about culture. At a time when nationalism was taking root across Europe and the United States, the riverscape played an important role in transforming the abstract idea of the nation into a potent visual image. It not only offered a picture of the nation s physical character, but through aspects such as style, the figures portrayed, and the nature of the implied spectator, it...