Tivoli

Sanford Robinson Gifford

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Gifford visited Tivoli, Italy, in 1856, on his first trip abroad. A dozen years later, he was drawn back to what he described as “one of the finest views in the world”: the prospect toward Rome up the valley of the Aniene River, past the Cascatelle (waterfalls) pouring from the arches of the so-called villa of Maecenas. Following his customary practice, Gifford made several quick pencil sketches of the site from nature. He later worked from them to produce this painting for the leading New York collector Robert Gordon. Characteristically, his primary interest was in rendering the effects of light, using it to unify the scene. Thin, transparent layers of paint, with subtle transitions in tone, suggest the atmosphere.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art