The son of an itinerant portraitist, Jerome Thompson began his career as a sign painter and later became a successful portrait painter. By 1850, Thompson primarily painted genre subjects—such as this scene of picnickers near Vermont’s Mount Mansfield. In the mid-nineteenth century, rapid industrialization—particularly in the Northeast—began to replace the agrarian lifestyle that had historically defined American life.

Rural sightseeing, mountain hikes, and pastoral picnics (or images of these activities) provided an idealized encounter with nature for city dwellers seeking a respite from urban life. "Recreation" combines romantic landscape conceptions of the beautiful and the picturesque, depicting nature and culture in harmonious balance. The central figure of the flute player evokes the romantic idea that human beings are inspired and sustained through a pastoral, even spiritual connection with nature.