Untitled (Bridge over a Waterfall)

Accession Number
2009/1.497

Title
Untitled (Bridge over a Waterfall)

Artist(s)
Eugène Cicéri

Object Creation Date
1835-1890

Medium & Support
watercolor on paper

Dimensions
14 5/8 in x 11 1/8 in (37.15 cm x 28.26 cm);13 3/4 in x 10 1/2 in (34.92 cm x 26.67 cm);8 in x 5 3/8 in (20.32 cm x 13.65 cm)

Credit Line
Joseph F. McCrindle Collection

Subject matter
Depicting natural landscapes in watercolors became a popular preoccupation for professional artists as well as amateurs during what we now think of as the Romantic Era. Dramatic features like waterfalls provided especially appealing examples of the sublime power of the natural world. The inclusion of human figures offers the viewer a sense of scale, and also invites speculation about the relationship between people and the environment. Included figures were sometimes shown with easels or in the act of sketching in notepads, though professional, highly-finished watercolors like this one were often made in studios rather than on the spot.

Physical Description
The watercolor depicts an arched bridge over a waterfall that cuts through rocky mountainous terrain dotted with evergreens. The waterfall flows down a short ways into a low, wide river. On the river's left bank are two men seen in silhouette. Beyond the bridge in the background distant mountains rise amid forests, and are rendered with an increasingly lighter technique to indicate aerial perspective and also perhaps mist or fog.

Primary Object Classification
Drawing

Collection Area
Western

Rights
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Keywords
bridges (built works)
landscapes (representations)
mountains
rivers
romanticism (form of expression)
waterfalls (natural bodies of water)

& Author Notes

All Rights Reserved