Born in New York in 1848, George Herbert McCord would become part of the second generation of Hudson River School painters. He was a pupil of Samuel F.B. Morse and James Fairman in 1866, and had exhibited at the National Academy of Design by 1870. He first gained pubic attention in 1875 for his paintings which were exhibited in New York as part of a fundraising drive for a Washington Irving monument.

McCord's paintings were popular for their atmospheric quality and highly developed sense of color. The present work, Landscape at Sunset, is an exquisite example of these qualities. The artist captures the delicate balance between fading sunlight and gathering dusk on an autumn evening through his deep understanding of color. An ethereal crescent moon casts its spell on this nuanced landscape, whose crimson, saffron and ochre is reflected in the lake. The silent grandeur of the scene is underscored by the lack of visible brush strokes and by the compositional element of the lone figure in a small boat near the shore. An enduring and elegant image of an ephemeral moment, this work shows a strong sense of composition, tone, and harmony.

McCord made frequent trips to sketch in New England, Canada, Florida and the Upper Mississippi. He was sought after for many commissions that included Andrew Carnegie who invited him to paint the scenery around his castle in Cluny, Scotland. He was one of an elite group of artists invited by the Santa Fe Railroad to paint scenes of the Grand Canyon. He was also invited on the Arkell Erie Canal trip. McCord was named an associate of the National Academy of Design in 1880. Though he maintained a permanent studio at his Morristown, New Jersey home, McCord spent much time abroad. He lived and painted for three years in Venice, and later in Paris.

While he exhibited throughout the country, he participated regularly at the National Academy, the Brooklyn Art Museum, Art Institute of Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia in 1877, 1888 and in 1903.

McCord was a member of the following organizations in New York: American Water Color Society, Artists Fund Society, Brooklyn Art Club, Lotos Club, National Academy of Design, Newspaper Artists' Society, New York Water Color Club and the Salmagundi Club.

Examples of the works of George Herbert McCord can be found in the following prestigious collections: Albany Institute of History and Art, New York; Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, FL; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, OK; New York Historical Society, New York, NY; Robert Hull Fleming Museum, Burlington, VT; Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY; Hickory Museum of Art, Hickory, NC; Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO and the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Hagerstown, MD.