George Inness, an American landscape painter, born in Newburgh, N. Y., May 1,1825. His parents removed to Newark, N. J., where he early learned drawing and the rudiments of oil painting. He has from his youth been subject to epilepsy, which has interfered materially with the consecutive pursuit of his art. When 16 years old he went to New York to study engraving, but ill health obliged him to return home, where he continued to sketch and paint until his 20th year. He then passed a month in the studio of Regis Gignoux in New York, which is all the regular instruction he ever had. He made two visits to Europe, and resided for some time in Italy. For a number of years after his return he made his home near Boston, where some of his best pictures were painted. In 1862 he went to reside at Eagleswood, near Perth Amboy, N. J., and a few years later removed to New York. Inness is very unequal in his efforts, but lovers of nature find much to admire in his landscapes. He inclines to the French school in style, and has been compared not inaptly with Rousseau. A follower of Swedenborg, he deals largely in allegory, and uses the forms of nature to illustrate thought.

Among his best pictures are "The Sign of Promise," " Peace and Plenty," "Going out of the Woods,"'"A Vision of Faith," "The Valley of the Shadow of Death," "The Apocalyptic Vision of the New Jerusalem and River of Life," " A Passing Storm," "Summer Afternoon," "Twilight,"and "Light Triumphant." In 1870 he went with his family to Rome, where he still remains. To the national academy exhibition of 1874 he sent a picture entitled "Washing Day, near Perugia."