Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
2009.16 |
Object Name |
Painting |
Title |
Fairmount Water Works with People Strolling |
Artist |
Wild, John Caspar |
Date |
ca. 1834 |
Description |
View of the eastern side of the Fairmount Water Works from the floodgates, or race bridge. The Works extend from the central background to the right middleground of the gouache. The Works include a three-story, Federal-style, brick building with four chimneys, and a long, white and red brick, Neoclassical-style Mill House, ornamented with allegorical sculpture. A steep, brown rocky hill with green shrubbery rises in the right background. Stairs ascend the hill, leading to a gazebo, topped with a statue of Mercury. In the background, between the hill and the brick building, are additional buildings, large green trees, and a fountain. A large pool with two white swans is in the left middleground. In the foreground, two couples stroll along a promenade, and two additional couples walk in front of the waterworks to the right. Signed "From Nature by Wild" in the lower left corner. |
Label |
The Fairmount Waterworks was an iconic landmark and tourist destination in 19th-century Philadelphia. Conceived by Frederic Graff, a former assistant to architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the Waterworks combined technological achievement with an aesthetically pleasing design. In 1822, pumping engines powered by waterwheels replaced the previous dangerous and inefficient steam engines at the Fairmount site, providing the city with safe, drinkable water from the Schuylkill River. The old Engine House became a restaurant to accommodate the multitude of tourists who visited the site. Due to its popularity, the Waterworks was depicted frequently in paintings, drawings, prints, and even on porcelain. This gouache by Swiss-born artist John Caspar Wild shows fashionable couples strolling the manicured Waterworks grounds. Visible above the entrances to the millhouse are the allegorical sculptures of the Schuylkill River and Waterworks by Philadelphia artist William Rush. This gouache was later published by Wild as a lithographic print; a copy of the print is at the Free Library of Philadelphia. |
Medium |
Gouache on paper |
Dimensions |
H-25.5 W-32.375 inches |
Dimension Details |
Framed |
Credit line |
American Philosophical Society |
Search Terms |
19th century nineteenth century painting landscape Philadelphia women architecture |