Charles Wilson Knapp was a noted landscape artist of great ability. He was born in Philadelphia in 1823 and spent most of his life in that city. He worked primarily in Pennsylvania, New York State, New Jersey, the Susquehanna River Valley, the area around the Delaware Water Gap, and the Berkshire Mountains.

He especially enjoyed painting the hills and rocky valleys of the Susquehanna River area, a favorite region for generations of artists prior to Knapp and his contemporaries. While the area was becoming increasingly urbanized, Knapp was one of several artists who continued to set forth on canvas the serenity and calm of the place which had initially drawn them there. These landscapes were exhibited at the National Academy of Design soon after they were completed.