View of the Tunnel of the Harlem Railroad
ca.1837
Medium
Gouache on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
18 x 26 in. (45.7 x 66 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
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
54.90.155
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the bustling New York City of the 1830s, Nicolino Calyo captured a pivotal moment of American progress with *View of the Tunnel of Harlem Railroad* (ca. 1837). This gouache on off-white wove paper measuring 18 x 26 inches, depicts innovative tunnel of the New York and Harlem Railroad—one of the nation's earliest rail lines, operational since 1832. Calyo, an Italian-born artist renowned for his meticulous topographical views of urban transformation, renders the scene with precise detail: the dark tunnel mouth piercing a rugged landscape, flanked by workers, horse-drawn carts, and emerging ra...