Delaware Water Gap
1861
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
36 x 50 1/4 in. (91.4 x 127.6 cm)
Classification
Painting
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Morris K. Jesup Fund, 1932
Accession Number
32.151
Tags
Art Historical Context
George Inness's *Delaware Water Gap* (1861), an oil on canvas measuring 36 x 50¼ inches, captures the majestic natural beauty of this iconic American landmark where the Delaware River carves through the Appalachian Mountains along the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border. during the early months of the Civil War, the work depicts a serene pastoral landscape with grazing cows, a winding river, and a vivid rainbow arching across a stormy sky—elements that evoke peace amid national turmoil. Housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing, it reflects 19th-century American culture's deep revere...
About the Artist
George Inness · 1825–1894
George Inness (1825–1894) was an American landscape painter regarded as one of the most important figures in nineteenth-century American art, bridging the Hudson River School tradition and a more personal, spiritually-inflected vision of nature. Born near Newburgh, New York, he received limited formal training, studying briefly with Régis François Gignoux, but was largely self-taught, developing h...