Collections: American Art: Narrows at Lake George

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Narrows at Lake George

This work was painted during the Revolutionary War by William Pierie, a captain in the British artillery stationed in North America. Military training often included drawing lessons for the documentation of strategic terrain, in this case, Lake George in the Adirondacks region. Pierie was also concerned with aesthetic effects to create a visually pleasing landscape scene: he incorporated established Picturesque compositional formulas such as using vertical elements (here the rocky cliffs of the Narrows) to frame a distant view across a body of water.


• Artist: William Pierie (Captain), American, active late 18th century
• Medium: Watercolor on cream, thick, rough-textured, laid paperboard
• Dates: 1777
• Dimensions: Sheet: 8 7/16 x 10 3/16 in. (21.4 x 25.9 cm) Frame: 16 3/8 x 21 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. (41.6 x 54 x 3.8 cm)
• Signature: Signed lower right: "P"; inscribed lower left, in graphite: "Narrows at Lake George"; inscribed lower left border, in gold ink: "View of America by Capt. Pierie, Artillery"
• Collections: American Art
• Museum Location: This item is not on view
• Accession Number: 50.66.1
• Credit Line: Dick S. Ramsay Fund
• Image: Overall, 50.66.1_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
William Pierie (Captain) (American, active late 18th century). Narrows at Lake George, 1777. Watercolor on cream, thick, rough-textured, laid paperboard, Sheet: 8 7/16 x 10 3/16 in. (21.4 x 25.9 cm) Frame: 16 3/8 x 21 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. (41.6 x 54 x 3.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 50.66.1 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 50.66.1_SL1.jpg)