The Metropolitan Museum's early founders, Mr. Heckscher noted, included Church and John Frederick Kensett, another Hudson River School artist.

WSJ: American Idyll

That jolly ditty, written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie in 1934, has been recorded by artists from Bing Crosby to Justin Bieber and continues to garner considerable airplay.

FORBES: Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Perhaps To A Court Near You

The pairing of two canvases, "View on the Hudson" (1865) and "On the Thames, Near Windsor" (1868), by John Frederick Kensett, a Luminist, shows how the disparate landscapes of the two rivers inspired different approaches.

WSJ: River Romantics | The Panoramic River | Hudson River Museum | By Barrymore Laurence Scherer