Natural Bridge, Virginia

Amerikanische Grafik 1850–1857, 19th century

Against a watery blue sky, an arched rock formation joins tall cliffs that together fill most of this vertical watercolor painting. The arch is to our left, next to a plant-covered, tall outcropping. The cliffs dominate the right half of the composition. Lit from the upper left, the rocky faces are light and caramel brown with fog-gray fissures and cracks. The tops of the cliffs are fringed with dark green shrubs and a few long vines hang down some of them. A slate-blue river, dotted with rocks, winds from the lower center of the picture around to our left, before disappearing behind tall boulders there. Near the lower right corner and tiny in scale, a man wearing light blue and tan garments stands on the river’s edge holding fishing pole over the water. Upon closer inspection, a series of small dots of color suggest people crossing the top of the arched bridge. Above them, a buff-white and pale blue sky fills the top third of the scene.
Artist
Amerikanische Grafik 1850–1857
Date
19th century
Type
Drawing
Medium
watercolor and gouache over graphite on paperboard
Dimensions
35.24 × 27.62 cm
Collection
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Licence
Public domain, CC0

Image description

Against a watery blue sky, an arched rock formation joins tall cliffs that together fill most of this vertical watercolor painting. The arch is to our left, next to a plant-covered, tall outcropping. The cliffs dominate the right half of the composition. Lit from the upper left, the rocky faces are light and caramel brown with fog-gray fissures and cracks. The tops of the cliffs are fringed with dark green shrubs and a few long vines hang down some of them. A slate-blue river, dotted with rocks, winds from the lower center of the picture around to our left, before disappearing behind tall boulders there. Near the lower right corner and tiny in scale, a man wearing light blue and tan garments stands on the river’s edge holding fishing pole over the water. Upon closer inspection, a series of small dots of color suggest people crossing the top of the arched bridge. Above them, a buff-white and pale blue sky fills the top third of the scene.

Amerikanische Grafik 1850–1857