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River Scene (from McGuire Scrapbook)

1840
Not on view
Doughty’s interpretation of the American landscape was primarily pastoral and picturesque, evoking the lyrical, quiet moods of nature. This graphite drawing exhibits his characteristic approach to landscape composition. At the center of the sheet is a graceful bridge with two tall Romanesque arches spanning a narrow river that widens toward the viewer. Trees on the riverbank flank the bridge, whose arches are echoed in the background by a pair of tall mountain peaks silhouetted against billowing cumulus clouds. The generalized treatment of foliage, piling up of mountains and clouds, and formulaic contrast of pastoral and wilderness motifs strongly suggest that the image was not drawn from nature, but was largely contrived from the vocabulary of the picturesque.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: River Scene (from McGuire Scrapbook)
  • Artist: Thomas Doughty (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1793–1856 New York)
  • Date: 1840
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Graphite on off-white wove paper
  • Dimensions: 6 x 7 9/16 in. (15.2 x 19.2 cm)
  • Credit Line: Gift of James C. McGuire, 1926
  • Object Number: 26.216.13
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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Four Miniature Views of Delaware, West Point, (Highland Falls, N.Y.), Harper's Ferry, VA, Passaic Falls, N.J.
Multiple artists/makers
1800–1808
On the Hudson, Thomas Doughty American, Oil on canvas, American
On the Hudson
Thomas Doughty
1830–35
A River Glimpse, Thomas Doughty American, Oil on canvas, American
A River Glimpse
Thomas Doughty
ca. 1843–50
Spring Landscape, Thomas Doughty American, Oil on canvas, American
Spring Landscape
Thomas Doughty
ca. 1853–56
Sleeping Child, possibly Violet Sargent, John Singer Sargent American, Graphite on off-white wove paper, American
Sleeping Child, possibly Violet Sargent
John Singer Sargent
ca. 1872–73

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