David Johnson was considered to be one of the leading second-generation artists of the Hudson River School. Practically self-taught, Johnson reached a high level of professional skill relatively early. Artist Benjamin Champney (1817-1907) noted that Johnson "...quietly and modestly attained to a very high rank as one of the leading landscapists of New York." (Sixty Years' Memories of Art and Artists [1900], p. 139) Johnson's style of painting was a technique that combined a high-keyed color scale with an extreme attention to detail. Later in his career, as the influence of French art became increasingly familiar to American artists, Johnson's linear and highly detailed style softened.

David Johnson was born in New York City in May of 1827. He studied briefly under the landscape artist Jasper Cropsey, but by then was already an accomplished artist. Johnson also accompanied the artists John W. Casilear and John F. Kensett on sketching trips throughout New England. Johnson spent most of his professional life in New York City, and like many other landscape artists of his era, spent summers at popular painting locales of the Northeast including: the White Mountains, Lake George, and the Catskills. Johnson was, in fact, a founding member of the first art colony started at the southern end of Kaaterskill Cove near the Catskill Mountains in the 1840's. As the railroad facilitated travel more and more, Johnson explored western regions throughout the nation.

Johnson was a frequent exhibitor at the National Academy of Design in New York and was elected full Academician in 1861. He also exhibited at the Artists Fund Society and the American Art Union in 1849. Johnson was awarded a first class medal for art in 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and also in 1878 at the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics Association in Boston. In addition, he exhibited in Europe at the Paris Salon 1877, showing some of his works that reflect the influence of French Barbizon painting.

Johnson's paintings from the 1870s are his most sought after, and this was the decade that he reached tremendous success and popularity. The present work, View of Fordham, was one of the works executed during this period and one can observe this remarkable level of achievement. Along with Johnson's great precision in rendering the foreground foliage and pathway is the magnificently illuminated background that lies in between. Seemingly, for only a brief moment, this pathway is bathed in the warm sunlight that has just opened above and reveals the cerulean sky that appears to be welcoming the approaching figures below. Gwendolyn Owens has observed about his works, such as View at Fordham, of this period:

Johnson's method of painting had evolved into tight, controlled technique by the 1870s. Using a fine brush and minute, almost invisible strokes, he created delicately detailed compositions that are among his finest paintings. The superb handling, richness of color, and realistic effect of those works…make them exquisite examples of the style that is called Luminism. ["David Johnson," in John K. Howat, American Paradise: The World of the Hudson River School (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1987), p. 276.]

David Johnson's paintings can be found in many leading private collections and institutions including: Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX; De Young Museum, San Francisco, CA; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Museum of Fine Arts-St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, FL; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; New York Historical Society, New York, NY; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA; Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT.