New York from the Heights near Brooklyn

William Guy Wall

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Painted as the pendant of “New York from Weehawk,” (54.90.109) this watercolor represents the eastern face of New York City from the former “Bergen’s Hill” in what is now Brooklyn Heights, looking west-northwest across the East River. In the two watercolors the artist not only opposed the points of view and the times of day of the two prospects but also introduced here the sublime effect of a departing storm. Consonant with it, a brittle conifer tree in the foreground serves as a counterpoint to the lyrical form of the deciduous tree in the companion picture. In both views, the artist projects an impression of youthful New York City as an abiding Utopia cradled in a vast riparian environment. Both watercolors were engraved as a pair by John Hill in 1823, just as Wall and Hill were collaborating on the better-known “Hudson River Portfolio” (1821–1825), a series of sixteen aquatints of picturesque views of the river from near Saratoga Springs to New York City.

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