Sylvan Lake, Greenwood Cemetery, in: The New York Drawing Book, Containing a Series of Original Designs and Sketches of American Scenery, No. 2

Art Historical Context

This 1847 lithograph, *Sylvan Lake, Greenwood Cemetery*, comes from *The New York Drawing Book*, a publication offering amateur artists original sketches of American scenery. Created by Frances Flora Bond Palmer and collaborators, the print captures a tranquil lake nestled within Brooklyn’s Greenwood Cemetery, a pioneering rural cemetery designed in the picturesque style. The scene reflects the mid-nineteenth-century fascination with romantic landscapes that blended nature, memory, and gentle melancholy. As a lithograph, the work benefited from a relatively new printing process that allowed detailed images to be reproduced affordably and widely distributed. Such drawing books played an important role in popularizing both artistic practice and appreciation for distinctly American views at a time when the nation was celebrating its own landscapes. Measuring just over eight by twelve inches, the sheet was sized for easy handling by students and collectors alike. Today the print resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of drawings and prints, acquired through the Harris Brisbane Dick Fund. It offers modern viewers a quiet window into how nineteenth-century Americans imagined their environment—peaceful, accessible, and worthy of artistic study.

About the Artist

Francis & Seymour Palmer|Frances Flora Bond Palmer|W. H. Graham (American, born England|American) · 1812 |1844 –1876 |1851

American (born England), Leicester 1812–1876 New York|American, active New York, 1844–51