the Backwoods of America is one of the main works of Jasper F. Cropsey (1823-1900), an artist of the Hudson River School. She was painted in London in 1858 and then presented to the Royal Academy. In 1932, the W.H. Abbott philanthrope of London, Ontario, purchased the painting to offer it, the following year, to the University of Western Ontario, in order to start the formation of a collection of art works. In 1981, the University departed from its painting at an auction in New York. The Backwoods of America makes Cropsey increasingly interested in the harsh side of life in the newly cleared regions of America. However, its interest does not stop at objective reporting. His picture contains allusions to the life cycle and death. The romantic contrast between the ephemeral duration of human life and the perpetual renewal of nature is evident in how to contrast, at the forefront of the painting, the falling stone, on which the artist has signed his canvas, and a large tree strain. The Backwoods of America belongs to the most successful years of Cropsey’s career and represents this phase of the mid-19th century where there is a subjective view of the inherited nature of romantism and a more objective and scientific approach introduced by naturalists.