A Waterfall, Moonlight
by 1886
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
56 1/4 x 35 3/4 in. (142.9 x 90.8 cm)
Classification
Painting
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Eda K. Loeb, 1952
Accession Number
52.48.2
Tags
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 tha...
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...