Panoramic View of New York, from the East River

Panoramic View of New York, from the East River

Robert Havell Jr.

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This view typifies the long low-level panoramas made to document many American cities in the middle decades of the nineteenth century. Having moved to New York from England, Havell used his mastery of aquatint to produce nuanced tonal images usually enhanced, as here, with watercolor. Such prints would have appealed to connoisseurs. The marine artist Pringle drew the many vessels that ply the river, ranging from a large three-masted ship with dark sails and flying a Dutch flag to a steam-powered ferry. The New Jersey side of the Hudson River and distant Palisades are visible beyond Manhattan.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Panoramic View of New York, from the East RiverPanoramic View of New York, from the East RiverPanoramic View of New York, from the East RiverPanoramic View of New York, from the East RiverPanoramic View of New York, from the East River

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.