Watercolor Painting, "The Vale"

Details

Descriptive Terms

landscapes (representations)
watercolors (paintings)
paper (fiber product)
pencils (drawing and writing equipment)
watercolor (paint)
Painting

Label

"Cherished Possessions": This watercolor by Boston, Massachusetts, landscape artist Alvan Fisher shows a view of The Vale, the Waltham, Massachusetts, home of East India merchant Theodore Lyman. The landscape at The Vale was one of the most forward-looking in America, designed in the picturesque style just then becoming popular in England, which involved the use of artifice to make the natural appear more bucolic, more scenic, more beautiful. In 1793, Theodore Lyman hired an English gardener, William Bell, to help lay out the grounds of his new property. Bell's most ambitious project was to redirect the small stream that ran in a straight course in front of the house and turn it into a meandering waterway with a dam and a waterfall.

Associated Building

Subject Lyman Estate (Waltham, Mass.),

Maker

Fisher, Alvan, 1792-1863 (Artist)

Location of Origin

Boston, MA, USA

Dimensions

9 3/8 x 14 7/16 (HxW) (inches)

Credit Line

Museum Purchase

Accession Number

1969.460

Reference Notes

Sander, Penny. Elegant Embellishments. Boston; SPNEA; 1982.

Places

Massachusetts (United States)
Waltham (Middlesex county, Massachusetts)

Related Items

Title Reproduction photograph Accession Number 2012.5.1