A lovely day in Brooklyn’s Tompkins Park in 1887

William Merritt Chase depicts late 19th century Brooklyn parks in several of his paintings.

He lived with his family on Marcy Avenue at the time, so it’s no surprise that he painted scenes like this one from Tompkins Park in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Tompkins, named after a local abolitionist, was the first park established by the city of Brooklyn and laid out by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted.

Opened in the 1870s, it’s now called Herbert Von King Park, after a Bed-Stuy community leader.

Genteel and peaceful Prospect Park, 1886

Nineteenth-century artist William Merritt Chase frequently painted serene scenes of Gilded Age Prospect Park, Von King’s (Tompkins) Park, and other Brooklyn landscapes.

No wonder—this teacher at the Art Students League reportedly lived for a time on Marcy Avenue.

The Brooklyn Museum has an extensive collection of his work.