Old House in Rector Street, from "Scenes of Old New York"
1870
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
plate: 6 x 5 3/8 in. (15.2 x 13.7 cm) sheet: 6 5/8 x 6 in. (16.8 x 15.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Edward W. C. Arnold Collection of New York Prints, Maps and Pictures, Bequest of Edward W. C. Arnold, 1954
Accession Number
54.90.919
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the shadowy charm of 19th-century New York with Henry Farrer's *Old House in Rector Street an etching from his evocative series *Scenes of Old York* (1870). This print captures a weathered house on Rector Street in Lower Manhattan, a remnant of colonial-era architecture amid the city's explosive growth. Farrer, British-American artist and member of the New York Etching Club, skillfully documented these vanishing urban vignettes, preserving the grit and grace of old Gotham before skyscrapers and modernization erased them. Etching allowed Farrer to achieve fine, expressive lines that ...
About the Artist
Henry Farrer
Henry Farrer (1843–1903) was a British-born American etcher and watercolorist who played a significant role in the development of the etching revival in the United States during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Born in London, Farrer emigrated to the United States, where he became a founding member of the New York Etching Club in 1877, an organization that brought together American print...