George Inness, The Valley of the Shadow of Death, oil on canvas, 1867, 48 5/8 x 72 7/8 in. The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Gift of Charles M. Pratt, 1917.1.6. View in Scrapbook
Inness, like Cole, believed that nature contained evidence of the divine. He often infused his landscapes with a spiritual significance. Valley of the Shadow of Death, part of a three-painting series entitled A Vision of Faith, shows the influence of Cole's Old Age. An elderly man dressed in white stands in a rocky landscape with his back towards the viewer, turning to look at an illuminated cross in the clouds. Inspired by Psalm 23, whose fourth line reads, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me," Inness used the landscape to convey a religious narrative and to communicate his idea of the harmonious relationship between God, humanity, and nature. 1