A View of Albany

Date1830-1850

Artist E. B. Walker (active ca. 1835)

MediumWatercolor, pencil, and ink on rag and woodpulp cardstock

DimensionsPrimary support: 10 x 14 1/4in. (25.4 x 36.2cm) and Framed: 12 3/8 x 16 3/8in.

Credit LineGift of the John D. Rockefeller, 3rd, Fund, Inc., through the generosity and interest of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, 3rd, and members of the family

Object number1979.302.1

DescriptionA watercolor landscape view, multiple, crowded buildings being shown in the far left distance. A bank and waterway fill the foreground.
The 1 1/2-inch, mahogany-veneered splayed frame is possibly original.
Label TextPrints of American cities were widely circulated in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, and amateur artists copied them in a variety of media. A view of Albany painted by William Guy Wall (1792-after 1864), which shows the city situated high on the west bank of the Hudson River above Van Rensselaer's Island, was copied by numerous engravers and widely published. Presumably, some printed version of Wall's view served as the model for acc. no. 1979.302.1 [note 1].
No clues to the identity of E. B. Walker have been discovered. The artist omitted some elements included in the printed source but retained a detailed treatment of plants in the foreground and a stippled appearance inthe foliage elsewhere. Walker used an inked stamp to sign this watercolor but signed in pencil a second watercolor scene acquired by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (acc. no. 1979.302.5).
InscribedA title in pencil at the center of the lower margin reads: "A View of Albany." Also see "Marks."
MarkingsStamped in block letters and purple (or faded black) ink at lower right below the image is: "E. B. WALKER." The primary support bears a fragment of an embossed stamp at the edge of the upper right corner that appears to read "[illeg]TOL/[illeg.]RD," perhaps for "Bristol Board," referring to paper card stock.
ProvenanceFound in Waldoboro, Maine, by Edith Gregor Halpert, Downtown Gallery, New York, NY, and acquired from Halpert by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller in October 1931, for use in Bassett Hall, the Williamsburg home of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Given to C.W.F. in 1979.