Shop and Warehouse of Duncan Phyfe, 168–172 Fulton Street, New York City

John Rubens Smith

1817–20 · Watercolor, ink, and gouache on white laid paper · The American Wing

For many years this watercolor had been attributed to the New York portrait and landscape watercolorist John Rubens Smith. More recent scholarship suggests that the artist was an amateur--perhaps even an employee of Phyfe’s shop--familiar with engraved images of manufactories and shops of the kind printed on business cards and furniture labels and in newspaper advertisements. The picture corresponds almost precisely to such imagery, for example, in the way the buildings completely fill the picture space and in the contrived presentation of the shop’s wares in the central doorway.

Artist

John Rubens Smith

Date

1817–20

Medium

Watercolor, ink, and gouache on white laid paper

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1922