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This drawing was created during an early trip of many that Camille Pissarro took to Rouen, a port city in northern France. It inspired the artist to create a virtually identical etching around the same time, and may have served as a preparatory sketch for that work. A founding member of the Impressionist group, Pissarro spent much of his career painting the rural and landscape outdoors and paid particular attention to the effects of weather and natural light. Here, the gray skies over the town echo the muted tone of the stone buildings that occupy a quiet side street.
France, 19th century
black chalk and watercolor on wove paper
Sheet: 29.2 x 22.7 cm (11 1/2 x 8 15/16 in.)
Did you know...
Because of its picturesque qualities, Rouen's rue Damiette has served as a subject for numerous artists.
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams Collection
Although this basket probably was not made for native use, the feathered basket is based on an older type that was exchanged among natives as a treasured gift on such occasions as ceremonies that marked the stages of life. The feathers and shell beads are symbols of prestige and wealth.
California, Pomo, 20th century
Sedge with mallard, quail, acorn woodpecker feathers, clam and abalone shells; coiled (3 rods)
Overall: 3 x 16.5 cm (1 3/16 x 6 1/2 in.)
Gift of Mrs. J. E. Bauerschmidt
Just like the last one, the illustration blows me away. I have a strong desire to be a better creator of characters.
This Ethopian sensul, or "chain" manuscript, was made in the seventeenth century in the Gondarine region. It was created out of a single folded strip of parchment attached to heavy hide "boards" at each end, creating a small book when folded. Comprised solely of inscribed images, this pocket-sized manuscript would have served a devotional function for its owner, who while unidentified, inscribed the first image with a note reminding people under the threat of excommunication not to steal or erase the manuscript. Narrative illuminations, which tell the story of the Virgin Mary, allow for private meditation. The book can also function as something of an icon, for when it is opened to the middle and stood on end, the facing figures of St. George and the Virgin and Child form a small diptych, resembling other icons of this era.
Christian Highland Ethiopian
H: 3 x W unfolded: 23 in. (7.62 x 58.42 cm)
H each panel: 3 5/8 x W: 3 1/8 in. (9.2 x 9 cm)
medium: ink and pigments on medium weight parchment, reinforced with a heavier parchment backing covered with upper and lower boards made of heavy undecorated hide, stitched to ends of parchment strip
culture: Christian Highland Ethiopian
Walters Art Museum, 1996, by purchase.
This lapis lazuli amulet appears to represents a four-headed ram, which is connected to the idea of the four winds and the four points of the compass. The amulet is pierced under the belly and may have served as a part of a necklace.
H: 1/8 x W: 1/4 x D: 1/16 in. (0.38 x 0.61 x 0.08 cm)
medium: lapis lazuli
dynasty: Ptolemaic Dynasty
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Thomas Sully
American, Horncastle, Lincolnshire 1783–1872 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
9 x 11 1/2 in. (22.9 x 29.2 cm)
medium: Ink, wash, on paper
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 53.182.17 recto 1953
Rogers Fund, 1953
Andrew Fisher Bunner
1841–1897
9 11/16 x 13 1/8 in. (24.6 x 33.3 cm)
medium: Black ink on light buff wove paper
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY 99.38.55 1899
Gift of Mrs. Andrew Fisher Bunner, 1899
Extracts from Alfred Jacob Miller’s original text, which accompanied his images of Native Americans, are included below for reference.
"The most favorable time to view these Lakes (to an artist especially) was early in the morning or towards sunset;- at these times one side or the other would be thrown into deep purple masses, throwing great broad shadows, with sharp light glittering on the extreme tops,- while the opposite mountains received its full complement of awrm, mellow & subdued light;- thus forming a chiaro obscuro and contrast most essential to the picturesque in color:- an attempt has been made to reach this in the sketch. This was the only lake we saw that had an island;- the scene in reality was charming, but would have required the pencil of Satnfield, Turner, or Church in giving it due effect and rendering it complete justice. Patiently it awaits the coming man." A.J. Miller, extracted from "The West of Alfred Jacob Miller" (1837).
In July 1858 William T. Walters commissioned 200 watercolors at twelve dollars apiece from Baltimore born artist Alfred Jacob Miller. These paintings were each accompanied by a descriptive text, and were delivered in installments over the next twenty-one months and ultimately were bound in three albums. Transcriptions of field-sketches drawn during the 1837 expedition that Miller had undertaken to the annual fur-trader's rendezvous in the Green River Valley (in what is now western Wyoming), these watercolors are a unique record of the closing years of the western fur trade.
H: 9 1/8 x W: 12 3/16 in. (23.2 x 30.9 cm)
medium: watercolor on paper
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.