John La Farge’s thick application of paint and loose brushstrokes suggest an atmosphere suffused with the chill of winter. Although nothing overtly marks this as a painting of the Civil War, there are stark allusions to it, as in the lone, weather-beaten tree with one stumped limb. La Farge also perhaps offers a poetic, hopeful detail in the early spring blossoms that force their way onto the scraggly branches, yet their blood-red color introduces ambivalence. La Farge painted this picture in the winter of 1865, months or possibly weeks before the war ended.
