View of Niagara Falls and Terrapin Tower from the American Side

Object Details

Related Objects

Niagara Falls

Richardt, Ferdinand
1856

oil on canvas

Object Essay

Vertical views of Niagara Falls are rather uncommon before midcentury, although one of a pair of such views attributed to John Vanderlyn (ca. 1832; private collection) is similar in composition to this work by Ferdinand Richardt.^{1_{The painting is signed at the lower right, “Ferd Richardt,” and is also inscribed on protective cardboard backing “Wax Relined/ By Kim Clark/ Rockport, Mall/ 1988.”}} Vanderlyn used the vertical format to enhance the drama by placing the viewer in the gorge, near the bottom of the cataract.^{2_{Adamson, 43–5, figs. 33–4, cat. nos. 162–63. “Conceived as a complementary pair,” the Vanderlyns raise the possibility that this Richardt also has a mate. 3. Ibid., 151, cat. no. 144, illustrated in color as the frontispiece. It measures 56 and 1/8 by 35 and 3/8 in.}} Richardt, in contrast, takes a high viewpoint, which distances us from the falls. This vantage is more artful and picturesque, and Richardt takes advantage of it to display his gifts as a colorist. 

The luminosity of the painting is striking. Opalescent billows of spray rise from the brilliant green water. Much of the drama and beauty are found in the sweep of dark gray clouds, with light streaking their tops, and in the transient patches of light playing over the land and water. Some forty diminutive figures, often mere squiggles of paint, are scattered through the landscape. Their presence emphasizes the falls as a tourist attraction, a scenic wonder rather than a terrifying force. 

This painting has not been identified as one of the dozens of views of Niagara painted by Richardt between 1855 and 1860 that were exhibited together as the “Great Niagara Gallery” but it is nearly identical in composition to a much larger painting, which has been dated ca. 1860 (private collection).^{3_{Ibid., 151, cat. no. 144, illustrated in color as the frontispiece. It measures 56 and 1/8 by 35 and 3/8 in.}}The central formal difference is an arched top in the larger painting, which also dictates a more symmetrical disposition of the clouds.

William Kloss 

Excerpted from Jonathan L. Fairbanks. Becoming a Nation: Americana from the Diplomatic Reception Rooms, U.S. Department of State. New York: Rizzoli, 2003.