They say a picture is worth a thousand words and that holds true for the Impressionist landscapes of Old Lyme Art Colony painter William Robinson. It is why the Cooley Gallery chose to name its current retrospective of the artist's works "A Painter's Prose."

The exhibition includes more than 25 historic paintings by Robinson (1861-1945) that span his early landscapes of France; Impressionistic landscapes of Old Lyme, which are the majority of the paintings in the show; his favorite New England seashore and mountain scenes; and warm, light-filled canvases painted in his final resting ground, Biloxi, Miss.

Jeff Cooley, owner of the gallery, says it was quite a coup to acquire these paintings, many of which were still in Robinson's family.

"We have over 40 paintings by the artist (not all are on exhibit). It's really sort of astounding to think of having 40 pictures of one of the original Old Lyme Art Colony members in one place at one time and all for sale," he explains.

In describing the work, Cooley says, "He was a gentle man and the pictures are gentle, beautiful depictions of all different times of year - although I don't think I've ever seen a winter scene," Cooley says. "The pictures themselves are painted with a delicacy and yet a strength at the same time with beautiful brush strokes and classic impressionist sun-dappled light. Whether on a large scale ... or his tiny paintings, you can see the same thing going on - a consistency of his handling of the paint, his handling of the brush, his ability to capture mood and atmosphere."

Robinson began coming to Old Lyme every summer starting in 1905. He moved to the town year round in 1921.

"Like other artists, he was in France in the 1890s, painting in the Barbizon tonalist sort of style and then came to Old Lyme; this was considered the American Barbizon," Cooley explains. "He was drawn here, as was the case of so many of the Art Colony artists, and turned to Impressionism. By 1908 he was a full-fledged, really glorious Impressionist artist."

An interesting aspect of Robinson's work is exemplified by a whole wall of paintings in the exhibit of the White Mountains of New Hampshire that he painted between 1924 and 1926.

"The White Mountains were a big draw for artists then, and there were a huge number of artists who would go up there and paint the scenery in the Hudson River School style - most of the major artists of the 19th century," Cooley notes. "As far as I can figure, Robinson may be the only painter of his era, in the 1920s, to be going up there painting in the Impressionist style."

Cooley comments that Robinson may have often been on the road but he was always in the moment.

"Wherever he was, he was paying attention to the effect of light and atmosphere on the landscape before him and he would capture that. He saw things as beautiful pictures and captured those moments. I think he loved color, so he loved the color of autumn and spring and when he was painting in the summertime down in Biloxi, he got beautiful blues and whites or the Gloucester (Massachusetts) pictures of the sea: the nice rocks and sunlight there.

"He was consistently looking at the world around him," Cooley says, "and just the pure, simple beauty of whether it was a few autumnal trees, or a meadow and a gate, or the cliffs of Manana Island (in Maine), or the budding trees of springtime. It was all a draw for him."

Robinson was a quintessential Impressionist artist, as is evidenced by the exhibit.

"He was clearly, as most of the Old Lyme painters were, drawn to the pure un-peopled landscape," Cooley says. "For the most part, his pictures are not about humanity, they're about the view and the landscape before us."

IF YOU GO

What: “A Painter's Prose: Recently Acquired Works by William S. Robinson”

Where: Cooley Gallery, 25 Lyme St., Old Lyme

When: Through Oct. 4; the gallery is open Tues.-Sat., from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Also: “Calm Waters: American Art, 1870-2014,” an eclectic collection of oils, watercolors and photography by artists of the 19th century through today, also is on view at the gallery. The exhibit includes works by William Trost Richards, Samuel Colman, and Aaron Draper Shattuck (all of the 1870s), as well as new work by Jerry Weiss of Chester, Judy Friday of Old Lyme and Walter Rane of New York City.

Information: www.cooleygallery.com or (860) 434-8807