The maturation of Inness style has an important link to the various places in which he lived. As a landscape artist this was certainly true of substance, but in his case it was true of style. Although he began his career as a follower of the Hudson School, his travels would influence the development of his work. Two events in particular stand out. The exposure he received to the Barbizon school on one of his trips to France in the 1850s and the time he spent in Raritan Bay. From a technical, and a spiritual point of view, they changed the way in which Inness saw the natural environment that would be his subject.