Philadelphia from across the Delaware River
1811–ca. 1813
Medium
Watercolor on white wove paper
Dimensions
5 3/4 x 8 3/4 in. (14.6 x 22.2 cm)
Classification
Watercolor
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1942
Accession Number
42.95.13
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold *Philadelphia from across the Delaware*, a delicate watercolor by Russian diplomat and artist Pavel Petrovich Sin, created between 1811 and 1813. Captured on a modest 5 3/4 x 8 3/4-inch sheet of white wove paper, this sketch offers a panoramic view of the young American city from the New Jersey side of the Delaware. Svinin's keen eye records the bustling river scene—dotted with boats, framed by trees, and accented by fluttering flags—evoking the vitality of Philadelphia in the early republic era. As secretary to the Russian consul in Philadelphia, Svinin traveled extensively across the...
About the Artist
Pavel Petrovich Svinin · 1787–1839
Pavel Petrovich Svinin (1787–1839) was a Russian diplomat, writer, and amateur artist whose visual record of early American life constitutes one of the most vivid and historically valuable documentary accounts of the United States in the early nineteenth century. Born in Russia in 1787, Svinin received a broad education and pursued a career in the Russian foreign service, which brought him to the ...