Study for "The Ferry"–Snowdon from Lyyn Padran, North Wales

Study for "The Ferry"–Snowdon from Lyyn Padran, North Wales

Peter De Wint

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

De Wint’s watercolors are distinguished by fluid brushwork, and this example shimmers with intensity. Bold strokes that range from steel-blue to purple-gray, pale brown, ochre, and raspberry, sometimes blend, sometimes stand apart. The work shows a ferryboat carrying cattle over a lake below dramatic clouds, with untouched patches of bright paper used to suggest light reflected in the water. The result is both painterly and sculptural, lending the small sheet a monumental effect. The artist’s distinctive watercolor style changed little over the course of his long career, but he did not visit North Wales until 1829 or 1830, which provides the earliest possible date for this work.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Study for "The Ferry"–Snowdon from Lyyn Padran, North WalesStudy for "The Ferry"–Snowdon from Lyyn Padran, North WalesStudy for "The Ferry"–Snowdon from Lyyn Padran, North WalesStudy for "The Ferry"–Snowdon from Lyyn Padran, North WalesStudy for "The Ferry"–Snowdon from Lyyn Padran, North Wales

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.