Thomas Birch, a pioneer of American landscape painting, specialized in marine subjects and seascapes. The travel writer Nathaniel Park Willis described the entrance to New York City's harbor, which is depicted in this painting:

"Almost any land looks beautiful after a long voyage; and it would not be surprising if the Narrows, oftenest seen and described by those who have just come off the passage of the Atlantic, should have this reputation. It does not require an eye long deprived of verdure, however, to relish the bold shores, the bright green banks, the clustering woods, and tasteful villas, which make up the charms of this lovely strait. The gay description which an American would probably give of the Narrows . . . would probably be in strong contrast with the impression it produces on the emigrant, who sees in it only the scene of his first difficult step in a land of exile."

Nathaniel Parker Willis, “The Narrows, at Staten Island,” inAmerican Scenery (London: George Virtue, 1836)