The 1880’s were a time of romance..

.. and at the same time technology.  Innovations like the Brooklyn suspension Bridge were being built, and many people embraced all that was new and exciting.  At the same time many longed for “Grandma’s Garden” and the beautiful days of rural life in America.

Impressionistic painters: Renoir, Manet and their peers were idealizing landscapes and people.

(Photo left Brooklyn Bridge shown in 1891; right Manet’s Garden painting)