A Waterfall, Moonlight

About this artwork

This oil on canvas, created in by 1886, represents significant artistic achievement by Ralph Albert Blakelock, a American artist. The piece demonstrates the technical capabilities and aesthetic conventions of American art during this historical period. Working in oil on canvas, the artist employed materials and techniques characteristic of the era, creating visual effects that convey both subject matter and artistic vision. Museum collections preserve such works to ensure continued study and app...

Art Historical Context

Ralph Albert Blakelock's *A Waterfall, Moon*, completed by 1886, the ethereal beauty of a nighttime landscape in oil on canvas. This-scale work (56¼ × 35¾ inches) depicts a cascading waterfall framed by trees under a luminous moon, evoking the quiet drama of nature's nocturnal splendor. As an American artist, Blakelock contributed to the late 19th-century tradition of landscape painting, where artists celebrated the American wilderness with romantic intensity. Oil on canvas was the premier medium for such ambitious landscapes, allowing Blakelock to layer colors and build atmospheric depth that mimics moonlight's glow on water and foliage. Created during a period when American art was evolving from Hudson River School grandeur toward more intimate, mood-driven scenes, this piece reflects the era's fascination with nature's sublime power and tranquility. Housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing through the bequest of Eda K. Loeb in 1952, *A Waterfall, Moonlight* invites visitors to ponder how 19th-century painters like Blakelock transformed everyday vistas into visions of wonder. Its preservation ensures we can still feel the hush of moonlit waters today.

About the Artist

Ralph Albert Blakelock · 1847–1919

Ralph Albert Blakelock was born on October 15, 1847, in New York City to English-born physician Ralph B. Blakelock and Caroline Olinarg Blakelock. Intending to follow in his father's footsteps, he enrolled at the Free Academy of the City of New York (now City College) in 1864 to study medicine but dropped out after two or three terms, rejecting formal education. Entirely self-taught, Blakelock hon...