View of the Bay and Harbor of New York, from Gowanus Heights, Brooklyn

William Henry Bartlett

ca. 1841 or 1852 · Watercolor and graphite on white wove paper · The American Wing

This watercolor is related to “View from Gowanus Heights, Brooklyn,” a steel engraving by Henry Adlard for Barlett’s and N.P. willis’s “American Scenery” (1838–40), a two-volume series of prints and commentary that became the classic picturesque album of its time. Emulating the work of J. M. W. Turner, the greatest landscape illustrator of the nineteenth century, Bartlett represented New York Bay from an almost impossibly high point of view, making New York City an incident in a cosmic panorama. The view is linked conceptually to the prospect from a gentleman’s estate, suggested by the white house (actually the Delaplaine Hotel) with chimneys portrayed in the middle distance at left.

Artist

William Henry Bartlett

Date

ca. 1841 or 1852

Medium

Watercolor and graphite on white wove paper

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

The Edward W. C. Arnold Collection of New York Prints, Maps, and Pictures, Bequest of Edward W. C. Arnold, 1954