New York from the Heights near Brooklyn
ca. 1820–23
Medium
Watercolor and graphite on white wove paper
Dimensions
16 x 25 1/4 in. (40.6 x 64.1 cm)
Classification
Watercolor
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Edward W. C. Arnold Collection of New York Prints, Maps, and Pictures, Bequest of Edward W. C. Arnold, 1954
Accession Number
54.90.301
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
William Guy Wall’s *New York from the Heights near Brooklyn* (ca. 1820–23) offers a sweeping view across the East River toward the growing skyline of Manhattan. Created in watercolor and graphite on paper, the work captures the city’s bustling harbor filled with sailing vessels, while the foreground emphasizes the natural rise of Brooklyn Heights. As an Irish-born artist who emigrated to America, Wall helped shape the early tradition of American landscape painting by recording the young nation’s expanding urban centers with both topographic precision and atmospheric sensitivity. The medium it...
About the Artist
William Guy Wall · 1792–1864
William Guy Wall, born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1792, arrived in New York in 1812 already well-trained as an artist, having honed his skills back home before emigrating. Little is documented about his formal instruction in Ireland, but his proficiency in watercolor positioned him immediately among the city's burgeoning artistic scene. Wall resided in America from 1812 to 1835 and again from 1856 to ...