Falls of Niagara

Falls of Niagara
ArtistRichard Wilson
Year1774
TypeOil on canvas, landscape painting
Dimensions154 cm × 185 cm (61 in × 73 in)
LocationWolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton

Falls of Niagara is a 1774 landscape painting by the British artist Richard Wilson.[1] It depicts a view of Niagara Falls. [2] Wilson had never visited North America, but based this scene on a sketch produced by an officer of the Royal Artillery. It was likely commissioned by the engraver William Byrne who planned to make a print based on the picture. It is strikingly different from many of Wilson's paintings, more obviously reflecting the Sublime that would become such a feature during the Romantic movement.[3]

The painting was displayed at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1774 held in Pall Mall in London.[4] Today it is in the collection of the Wolverhampton Art Gallery which acquired it in 1884.[5]

References

  1. ^ New p.47
  2. ^ Gassan p.92
  3. ^ Solkin p.242-43
  4. ^ Solkin p.242
  5. ^ https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/falls-of-niagara-19569

Bibliography

  • Gassan, Richard H. The Birth of American Tourism: New York, the Hudson Valley, and American Culture, 1790-1830. University of Massachusetts Press, 2008.
  • New, W.H. Land Sliding: Imagining Space, Presence, and Power in Canadian Writing. University of Toronto Press, 1997.
  • Solkin, David H. Richard Wilson: The Landscape of Reaction. Tate Gallery, 1982.