Sketchbook of Lake George, Catskill Mountains, and Hudson River Subjects
1834–38
Medium
Drawings in graphite and pen and ink on off-white wove paper, bound in leather and cloth panels
Dimensions
Cover: 7 1/4 x 9 in. (18.4 x 22.9 cm) Sheets: 7 1/4 x 9 in. (18.4 x 22.9 cm)
Classification
Sketchbook
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Morris K. Jesup Fund, 1998
Accession Number
1998.381
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the wild beauty of 19th-century America through *Sketchbook of Lake George, Catskill, and Hudson River Subjects by John William Casile, created between 1834 and 1838. This intimate leather- and cloth-bound volume, housed in The Met's American Wing, captures the artist's on-site observations of iconic New York landscapes—serene Lake George, rugged Catskills, and the majestic Hudson River. Measuring a portable 7¼ x 9 inches, it reflects the era's growing fascination with the American wilderness as a source of national pride and spiritual inspiration. Casilear's graphite and pen-and-in...
About the Artist
John William Casilear · 1811–1893
John William Casilear, born on June 25, 1811, in New York City, began his artistic career as an engraver, apprenticed under the prominent Peter Maverick in 1826. He later studied painting under Asher B. Durand in 1831, forming a close friendship that profoundly shaped his path. Durand, influenced by Thomas Cole, introduced Casilear to landscape painting by the mid-1830s, transitioning him from ban...