Olive Trees at Tivoli

Olive Trees at Tivoli

George Inness

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Widely regarded in the late nineteenth century as America’s premier landscape painter, Inness played a pivotal role in the transition from the literalism of the landscapes of the Hudson River School to a more subjective style inspired by French painting. Motivated by the increasing popularity of watercolor in the United States in the 1870s, he began experimenting in the medium during an extended trip to Italy (1870–74). He made fewer than fifty watercolors; they were never exhibited or sold, but they inspired his oil paintings. This view of the countryside near Tivoli balances a picturesque composition, fine draftsmanship, and painterly breadth. Centered on the horizon is a minute but distinct cupola, probably Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, about eighteen miles away.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.