Lake of Uri and Brunnen, from Picturesque Selections

Art Historical Context

James Duffield Harding's *Lake of Uri and Brunnen from Picturesque Selections (1859) captures the dramatic beauty of Switzerland's Lake Uri, part of the majestic Lake Lucerne, with the village of Brunnen nestled against towering alpine peaks. Harding, a prominent British landscape artist and lithographer of the Romantic era, specialized in evoking the "picturesque"—a 19th-century aesthetic celebrating nature's sublime, rugged charm. This print, housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints Drawings Department, reflects the era's fascination with European travel and scenery, as affluent Victorians embarked on Grand Tours to the Alps for inspiration and leisure. Printed as a lithograph on paper (image size: 38.1 × 27.4 cm), the work showcases lithography's revolutionary technique, which Harding mastered. Developed in the early 1800s, it allowed artists to draw directly on stone with greasy crayon, producing finely detailed, tonal reproductions that mimicked watercolor effects—ideal for affordable, mass-distributed landscape views. Harding's precise lines and subtle shading bring the serene lake, misty mountains, and quaint architecture to life, making grand vistas accessible to a wider audience beyond oil paintings. This piece exemplifies mid-19th-century print culture's role in democratizing art, blending artistic virtuosity with cultural wanderlust. Visitors today can appreciate how it transports us to Switzerland's timeless allure.

About the Artist

James Duffield Harding · 1797–1863

James Duffield Harding (1798–1863) was one of the most influential British watercolorists and lithographers of the nineteenth century, whose teaching manuals, technical innovations, and celebrated landscape paintings shaped the practice of drawing across two generations of artists. Born in Deptford, London, he was the son of a drawing master who had studied under Paul Sandby, and received his earl...