During and after his life, John Leslie Breck was credited with bringing French Impressionism to Boston and the United States at large. In a letter to the artist's family upon learning of Breck's sudden and premature death in 1899, John Henry Twachtman eulogized “our country loses a great genius, though it will probably never know it. . . . Jack Breck started the new school of painting in America."

Breck grew up in Newtown, Massachusetts. He began his artistic training at the Royal Academy in Munich, Germany. In 1886, he enrolled at the Académie Julian in Paris. And in the summer of 1887, he traveled to Giverny with a group of American artists that included Willard LeRoy Metcalf, Theodore Robinson, and Theodore Wendel. Reportedly, the group chose Giverny for its beauty not the presence of Claude Monet. In fact, according to Breck’s brother, Edward, ". . . none of the Americans made the master's [Monet's] acquaintance" that summer.1 When Breck finally did meet Monet, however, the two became fast friends. Monet did not accept students, but he invited Breck to "come down . . . to Giverny [sic] and spend a few months. I won't give you lessons, but we'll wander about the fields and woods and paint together."2 This artistic relationship and friendship led to Breck's romantic involvement with Monet's stepdaughter, Blanche Hoschédé. In fact, the younger artist became so enamored of Giverny and its residents that he remained there during the winters of 1888 and 1889, after most other American artists had returned to Paris.

Breck’s connection to Giverny and to Monet himself greatly influenced his artistic style. The dark, academic paintings that demonstrated the impact of his time in Munich were replaced by exuberant, light-filled landscapes. These informal outdoor subjects, rendered with loose brushwork and bright colors, became emblematic of Breck’s mature painting style.

Breck probably executed On the Essex River in 1891 after he had returned from France in 1890, when his relationship with Hoschédé ended. Painted en plein air, the painting reveals the extent of Monet’s influence and Breck’s assimilation of it. Flickering brushstrokes animate the light as it dances on the goldenrod and cardinal flowers and reflects off the still water. Complimentary shades of pastel colors capture the quiet beauty of the simple view. The stack of marsh hay does not seem accidental and likely pays homage to Monet’s own famed haystacks.

Breck’s bright impressionistic paintings were first exhibited at the St. Botolph Club in Boston in 1890. This show and another one held in 1895 not only presented Breck’s work to the American public, but they also introduced the style and philosophy of French Impressionism to American artists and collectors alike.

1 Edward Breck, “Something More of Giverny,” Boston Evening Transcript (March 9, 1895), p. 13.

2 John Leslie Breck’s obituary quoted in Kathryn Corbin, “John Leslie Breck: American Impressionist,” The Magazine Antiques (November 1988), p. 1145.