The Harsen Homestead, Corner of 10th Avenue and 70th Street, from "Scenes of Old New York"

Art Historical Context

Step into 19th-century New York with Henry Farrer's delicate etching *The Harsen Homestead, of 10th Avenue 70th Street*, his series *Scenes of Old York* (1876). This print captures a quaint colonial-era house perched at a bustling urban corner, its simple gabled facade and wooden shutters evoking the rural roots of Manhattan's Upper West Side. Farrer, an English-American artist active in the etching revival, used his precise technique to document these vanishing landmarks amid the city's explosive growth. Created as an etching—a process where acid bites into a metal plate to create fine, expressive lines—Farrer's work highlights architectural details with remarkable clarity. Measuring just 4 11/16 x 6 3/16 inches on the plate, it invites close viewing, much like peering through a window into the past. By 1876, as skyscrapers and tenements reshaped the skyline, such homesteads were relics of Dutch and early American settlement, soon to be demolished. Today, housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Edward W. C. Arnold Collection, this print preserves a slice of pre-industrial New York, reminding us how art can safeguard history against urban transformation. A charming testament to nostalgia and craftsmanship!

About the Artist

Henry Farrer · 1844–1903

Henry Farrer (1843–1903) was a British-born American etcher and watercolorist who played a significant role in the development of the etching revival in the United States during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Born in London, Farrer emigrated to the United States, where he became a founding member of the New York Etching Club in 1877, an organization that brought together American print...