Village on Lake Como: May 1, 1869 (verso, from sketchbook)

Art Historical Context

Jervis McEntee's *Village on Lake Como: 1, 1869* (verso, from sketchbook) offers a glimpse into the artist's European travels. As a leading American landscape painter of the 19th century, McEntee to Italy in 186, capturing the picturesque beauty of Lake Como—a region famed for its dramatic lakeside villages nestled amid mountains. This intimate sketch, dated precisely to May 1, reflects the Romantic era's fascination with nature's sublime allure, bridging American artistic traditions with Old World inspiration. Executed in graphite with white gouache on blue paper, the work exemplifies preparatory sketching techniques popular among landscape artists. The tinted blue ground provides a ready-made sky and water tone, while white gouache adds luminous highlights to buildings and foliage, creating depth and vibrancy in a compact 4½ × 9-inch format. Likely drawn on-site, it preserves the spontaneity of *plein air* observation, a hallmark of evolving realist practices. Now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing, acquired through the Morris K. Jesup Fund in 1982, this piece highlights McEntee's role in documenting ephemeral scenes. As the verso of a sketchbook page, it invites us to imagine its recto companion, underscoring the artist's prolific, on-the-go creativity amid cultural exploration.

About the Artist

Jervis McEntee · 1828–1891

Hudson River School painter who divided his time between a studio in the Tenth Street Studio Building in New York and the Hudson River. He specialized in sober autumnal and winter landscapes.