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BENNETT, William J. [New York: Geo. E. Perine: 1867] A BRISK GALE, BAY OF NEW YORK. Aquatint finished with hand color of the period. Printed area: 17 ½ x 22 ½ inches; professionally lined with rice paper, light glue & tape residue outer part of upper margin, corners of upper & lower right margins repaired—printed area unaffected, paper lightly toned, in all, an attractive, very good example. An arresting view depicting a sudden summer gale in New York Harbor, displaying the remarkable skills of one the period’s finest maritime artists and viewmakers. In the foreground is a schooner in full sail, heeling in churning waters and laden with an impossibly huge cargo of hay, on which rides a remarkably nonchalant crew. Various other well detailed ships are seen in the view, notably a large American war ship just behind the schooner. Most others are merchant vessels of various types, on which American commerce largely depended at the time. The view’s perspective is from the Lower Bay facing northwest toward Staten Island, seen in the background. Deak offers an eloquent description of Bennett’s technical prowess on display in this view: “In A Brisk Gale, he has used turbulent clouds and churning waters to stage a nautical drama, employing his acute awareness of the aesthetic properties of light to create mood. Billowing sails of the ships centrally featured illuminated by a burst of light emanating from the swift-moving clouds. Such concentration of light emphasizes the geometric configurations of the sails and gives the vessels a magnificent dominance over the active sea." William James Bennett (1787-1844), born in England, was a founding member of the Associated Artists in Watercolors in 1808 and exhibited at the British Water-Colour Society and other London galleries until 1825. He emigrated to New York by 1826, where he worked as a painter of watercolor landscapes and an aquatint engraver. Elected a full member of the American National Academy of Design in the late 1820s, he also served for many years as its curator. A total of 18 views based on Bennett’s art were published in the United States as prints. As is the case with this view, Bennett also engraved many of the views. They are considered among the greatest early American printed views for their quality, accuracy and beauty. The Princeton University Art Museum has exhibited the complete set, lent from the collection of Leonard L. Milberg, and describes them as follows: Between 1831 and 1842, the English painter and engraver William James Bennett (1784–1844) produced an informal series of eighteen aquatint views of American cities, ranging from Boston in the North to Mobile, Alabama, on the Gulf of Mexico. Based on originals executed on site by Bennett and other artists, these masterful images present an optimistic vision of a young nation bustling with growth and activity yet simultaneously pristine and ordered—an appealing amalgam of Enlightenment rationality with more dramatic Romantic pictorial effects. Bennett arrived in America in 1826, steeped in the topographical watercolor tradition established in eighteenth-century England, where increased domestic and foreign travel fostered an appreciation of the scenic world and a demand for images depicting it both accurately and attractively. Aquatint, a form of etching in which the application of powdered rosin allows the creation of tonal areas similar to ink wash, was ideally suited to translate watercolor’s delicate atmospheric effects into the print medium, enabling broad distribution. As portrayed in Bennett’s aquatints, America’s cities in the 1830s revolved around the coasts and waterways—conduits of trade—on which they were invariably situated, an indication that commerce at this time was still largely a matter of the transportation of goods, with large-scale industry in its infancy. Individually, the prints offer detailed renderings of specific sites significant in the nation’s development; collectively, they compose the finest group of early views of American cities, their expansive, buoyant character serving as a visual metaphor for the country’s future promise. Deak, Picturing America, no. 491, state 4; Stokes, Iconography, vol. 3, pp. 619-22; Kusserow, Karl. “American Prospects: Nineteenth-Century City Views by William James Bennett.” Princeton University Art Museum. 2021. https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/story/american-prospects-nineteenthcentury-city-views-william-james-bennett
Price: $4,500.00