Mohonk, 1871 (from Sketchbook)
ca. 1870
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
5 1/2 x 8 3/4 in. (14 x 22.2 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of S.B. Luyster, 1936
Accession Number
36.124bb verso
Tags
Art Historical Context
Daniel Huntington’s “Mohonk, 1871” captures a quiet moment in the American landscape through a delicate graphite sketch. Drawn on a small sheet of paper measuring just 5½ by 8¾ inches, the work records the artist’s encounter with the wooded scenery around Lake Mohonk in New York’s Shawangunk Mountains. The simple medium allows Huntington to focus on the graceful lines of tree trunks and the play of light filtering through foliage, preserving the freshness of an outdoor study. Created around 1870 and later bound in a sketchbook, this drawing reflects the 19th-century practice of carrying porta...
About the Artist
Daniel Huntington · 1816–1906
Daniel Huntington (1816–1906) was born into a prominent New York family on October 4, 1816, descending from distinguished New England lineage. His early education began at age fourteen at Smith's Academy in New Haven, followed by Yale College, where he studied with Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor, artist, and president of the National Academy of Design, in 1835. After a disciplinary incident invo...