Artwork Page for View of a Lake

Details / Information for View of a Lake

View of a Lake

c. 1830s

Thomas Doughty

(American, 1793–1856)
Culture
America
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
Framed: 53.3 x 69.6 x 7.6 cm (21 x 27 3/8 x 3 in.); Unframed: 38.5 x 55 cm (15 3/16 x 21 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1963.574
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Contrasting the many American landscape painters who conveyed nature's power through raging storms and blasted trees, Doughty emphasized the quiet power of the outside world in his idyllic paintings. Largely self-taught, he often drew from nature and skillfully transformed his detailed observances into soft, poetic depictions of the landscape. This work exhibits Doughty's penchant for inserting small figures in the center of the middle ground. The scale of the two boys on the lake's edge allows the viewer to focus on the expansive scenery, thereby emphasizing the diminutive nature of humankind in relation to the vast landscape.
A horizontally oriented oil painting with fine brushstrokes depicts two tiny figures standing on the shore of a wide, calm lake. In the dark foreground, a gnarled, fallen tree lies on the right bank, while leafy trees frame the scene on the left. Small white sailboats dot the water. In the background, steep, forested hills with rocky peaks rise toward a hazy sky filled with large, gray and white clouds.

View of a Lake

c. 1830s

Thomas Doughty

(American, 1793–1856)
America

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