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Union Park, New York

Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Arts | CC0 1.0

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Date

c.1845

Artist

Sarah Fairchild (active 1840s)

Collection

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Image Link

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/10868

Description

When amateur artist Sarah Fairchild painted this cityscape, the park at Union Square was relatively new. It had been built in the early 1830s on vacant land extending between Broadway and Fourth Avenue above Fourteenth Street. The gushing fountain shown in the middle ground was constructed in 1842 to mark the completion of the Croton Aqueduct, which for the first time assured New Yorkers of a sufficient water supply. Without the Croton system in place, the population of Manhattan could not have doubled, as it did, between 1845 and 1855. Perhaps to underscore the importance of water to Manhattanites, Fairchild shows a man pointing in excitement with his cane and a couple within the park staring raptly at the fountain’s plumes of spray. Medium: watercolor, gouache, pen and ink, and graphite on off-white wove paper.

Image Licence

CC0 1.0

Image Credit

Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Arts

Location

Union Park, New York, USA

Country

Tags

Buildings
Cityscapes
Gardens
Parks
People
Roads

Category

Buildings & Architecture

Glossary
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© 2024 Watercolour World | Technology by The Museum Platform

© 2024 Watercolour World | Technology by The Museum Platform