Not much is known about the man who painted this view of Niagara Falls except that his name was Thomas Chambers, he was born in 1815, he worked in New York State and Boston, and he died in 1866. This work dates from about 1850, by which time the falls loomed so large in the national consciousness that many tourists felt disappointed by the real thing. Chambers was clearly not one of these. And although he probably had little formal art training, he placed Table Rock in his composition with the assurance of Hokusai painting a wave.