Born in Zonnemain, Holland, Leonard Ochtman is known as a premier Tonalist and Impressionist landscape painter of sunsets, twilight and dawn scenes that convey silence and serenity. He is best known for capturing gentle environments, which often depicted the area around his home in Connecticut. Born in 1854 and moving to America at the age of 12, he became an apprentice in engraving, but as a painter was almost entirely self-taught. As the best American Impressionist painters did, Ochtman gathered influence from the French Impressionists, from work he saw in galleries, and gained most of his inspiration from nature.
Working in the inspiration of plein air, Ochtman focused on the changing effects of light with masses of color, while modeling and defining the forms with subtle, yet distinct color variations. In "Moonrise," Ochtman depicts the intense and pure power of the moonlight amongst every surface in its path. His incredible use of chiaroscuro, juxtaposed against the peace and serenity of the forest, breathes life into the painting, and proves Ochtman's place in history as one of the foremost Impressionist painters of nature.
In a publication, Palette and Bench, from August 1909, Ochtman stated that he painted "all my pictures in the studio from memory or notes. They are arranged, composed; they represent no particular place, but give to the best of my ability the character, color, and atmospheric conditions of the country in which I live . . . after all, we want the effect of the day, hour or moment, the mood... and not just a transcript of the place."