Skip to main content
The Walters Art Museum

Online Collection

Explore the Art Collection keyboard_arrow_down close
  • Explore By...
  • Category
  • Date
  • Medium
  • Creator
  • Places
  • Museum Locations
Open nav
The Walters Art Museum walters-logo-white
  • Calendar
  • Art
  • Shop
  • Give Now
  • Visit
    • Plan Your Visit
    • Hours
    • Directions & Parking
    • Food, Drink, & Shop
    • Free Admission
    • Tours
    • Accessibility
    • Visitor Promise
  • Experience
    • Virtual Museum
    • Exhibitions & Installations
    • Programs & Events
    • Collections
    • Buildings
    • Baltimore
  • Support
    • Support the Walters
    • Corporate Partnerships
    • Institutional Funders
    • Evening at the Walters
    • Volunteers
  • About
    • Mission & Vision
    • Leadership
    • Strategic Plan
    • Land Acknowledgment
    • Research
    • Policies
Menu close
Image for River Scene
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Zero

Download Image Zoom
Image for River Scene
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Zero

Download Image Zoom
Image for River Scene
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Zero

Download Image Zoom
Image for River Scene
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Zero

Download Image Zoom
Image for River Scene
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Zero

Download Image Zoom
  • arrow_forward_ios
  • arrow_forward_ios
River Scene Thumbnail
River Scene Thumbnail
River Scene Thumbnail
River Scene Thumbnail
River Scene Thumbnail
River Scene Thumbnail
River Scene Thumbnail
River Scene Thumbnail
River Scene Thumbnail
River Scene Thumbnail

River Scene

Robert Seldon Duncanson (American, 1821-1872) (Painter)
1868
oil on canvas
(18th and 19th Centuries )

An African American artist who undoubtedly faced daily obstacles and racial prejudice as a "free colored person" or "mulatto," Duncanson was hailed in 1861 as "the best landscape painter in the West." Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, Duncanson was one of several artists who depicted the Ohio River Valley and the vast North American landscape. He sometimes included ruins in his idealized landscape scenes, as here, which can be read as metaphors for the decay of civilization. In this painting, which has a misty glow and luminosity characteristic of his work, Duncanson also included several small, finely dressed black figures engaged in leisure activities, launching boats and socializing along the shore. Although Duncanson's paintings rarely addressed issues confronting African Americans, he imbued his depictions of them with subtle meaning. During his career, Duncanson achieved great fame in Canada, England, and Europe.

Despite the critical acclaim that Black artists such as Duncanson, Edmonia Lewis, and Henry Ossawa Tanner received during the 19th century, no artworks by these artists or their contemporaries were included in Henry Walters’s bequest of art to Baltimore City in 1931.

Inscription

[Signed and dated] Lower right: Duncanson / 1868

Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Dr. James and Paula Huffman, Louisville, KY, 2009, by purchase; Steven L. Jones, 2012, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 2012, by purchase.

Exhibitions

2014-2016 From Rye to Raphael: The Walters Story. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.
Share
  • social-item
  • social-item
  • social-item

Geographies

USA (Place of Origin)

Measurements

H: 27 x W: 40 in. (68.58 x 101.6 cm)

Credit Line

Museum purchase with funds provided by the Eddie and Sylvia Brown Challenge Grant, and matching funds, for the acquisition of African American Art, 2012

Location in Museum

Centre Street: First Floor: Selections from the 19th-Century European and North American Collection

Accession Number

In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.

37.2933

Do you have additional information?

Notify the curator

Hours

  • Wednesday—Sunday: 10 a.m.—5 p.m.
  • Thursday: 1–8 p.m.
  • Monday—Tuesday: Closed

Location

600 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD
21201

Phone

410-547-9000

  • Visit
  • Experience
  • What's On
  • About
  • Shop
  • Support The Walters
copyright

The Walters Art Museum

  • Accessibility
  • Privacy Policy/Terms of Use
  • Copyright Info
  • facebook
  • instagram
  • twitter
modal close
Image for
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Tooltip description to define this term for visitors to the website.

zoom-btn zoom-btn preview-download
Image for
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Tooltip description to define this term for visitors to the website.

zoom-btn zoom-btn preview-download
Image for
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Tooltip description to define this term for visitors to the website.

zoom-btn zoom-btn preview-download
Image for
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Tooltip description to define this term for visitors to the website.

zoom-btn zoom-btn preview-download
Image for
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Tooltip description to define this term for visitors to the website.

zoom-btn zoom-btn preview-download
  • arrow_forward_ios
  • arrow_forward_ios