Painting the Town -- Museum of the City of New York

The rolling hills and tranquil aspect of rural Staten Island, located five miles southwest across the Upper Bay from Manhattan, were popular subjects for nineteenth-century artists, resulting in many painted and printed views of similar character and composition. No precise print source for this view has been established, however.¹ Like others drawn to the area, the unknown painter of this scene depicted the island's indented shoreline, its clean white country houses, and, from left to right in the distance beyond New York's Upper Bay, the New Jersey shoreline of the Hudson River, Manhattan, Governors Island, and Brooklyn.

The road indicated in the left foreground led to Pavilion Hill, a 130-foot high point that commanded a panoramic view of the bay and was the site of the Pavilion Hotel, one of Staten Island's many fashionable resort hotels catering to prominent Manhattanites, wealthy southerners escaping steamy summers, and notable foreign visitors. The ships lying just offshore indicate the presence of Staten Island's seagoing community, including many ship captains who preferred the convenience of mooring their vessels close to home rather than in the berths lining Manhattan's East River.

By 1850, as a result of an increasing number of new enterprises (including New York Fire Brick and Staten Island Clay Retort Works, which used local clay deposits) and an influx of German and Irish immigrants to provide labor for them, Staten Island's population was more than five times its 1800 figure of 4,564. The smokestack and buildings nestled in the trees of Tompkinsville, the village seen at water's edge, suggest some of these new industries. Other institutions also encroached on Staten Island's rural nature. For example, the Quarantine Hospital, where ship passengers suspected of carrying contagious diseases were isolated, had relocated to Tompkinsville from Governors Island in 1799, and the Sailors' Snug Harbor and the Seamen's Retreat were established as havens for disabled, aged, or indigent sailors in 1831 and 1834, respectively.²

Although a century would pass before the opening of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (in 1964) erased Staten Island's remaining bucolic quality, this painting portends that future by depicting the advent of industry into the setting of fishing villages, farms, and elegant resort hotels.

Notes:

1 Barnett Shepherd and Charles Sachs, both formerly associated with the Staten Island Historical Society, were unable to determine a print source for the painting. Examination of various compendiums of American prints yielded no results.

2 Henry G. Steinmeyer, Staten Island, 1524 -1898 (Staten Island: Staten Island Historical Society, 1950).


View of New York from Staten Island c. 1850 Artist unknown Oil on canvas, 24 3/4 X 33 1/2 The J. Clarence Davies Collection, 29.100.1311
The rolling hills and tranquil aspect of rural Staten Island, located five miles southwest across the Upper Bay from Manhattan, were popular subjects for nineteenth-century artists, resulting in many painted and printed views of similar character and composition. No precise print source for this view has been established, however.¹ Like others drawn to the area, the unknown painter of this scene depicted the island's indented shoreline, its clean white country houses, and, from left to right in the distance beyond New York's Upper Bay, the New Jersey shoreline of the Hudson River, Manhattan, Governors Island, and Brooklyn. The road indicated in the left foreground led to Pavilion Hill, a 130-foot high point that commanded a panoramic view of the bay and was the site of the Pavilion Hotel, one of Staten Island's many fashionable resort hotels catering to prominent Manhattanites, wealthy southerners escaping steamy summers, and notable foreign visitors. The ships lying just offshore indicate the presence of Staten Island's seagoing community, including many ship captains who preferred the convenience of mooring their vessels close to home rather than in the berths lining Manhattan's East River. By 1850, as a result of an increasing number of new enterprises (including New York Fire Brick and Staten Island Clay Retort Works, which used local clay deposits) and an influx of German and Irish immigrants to provide labor for them, Staten Island's population was more than five times its 1800 figure of 4,564. The smokestack and buildings nestled in the trees of Tompkinsville, the village seen at water's edge, suggest some of these new industries. Other institutions also encroached on Staten Island's rural nature. For example, the Quarantine Hospital, where ship passengers suspected of carrying contagious diseases were isolated, had relocated to Tompkinsville from Governors Island in 1799, and the Sailors' Snug Harbor and the Seamen's Retreat were established as havens for disabled, aged, or indigent sailors in 1831 and 1834, respectively.² Although a century would pass before the opening of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (in 1964) erased Staten Island's remaining bucolic quality, this painting portends that future by depicting the advent of industry into the setting of fishing villages, farms, and elegant resort hotels. Notes: 1 Barnett Shepherd and Charles Sachs, both formerly associated with the Staten Island Historical Society, were unable to determine a print source for the painting. Examination of various compendiums of American prints yielded no results. 2 Henry G. Steinmeyer, Staten Island, 1524 -1898 (Staten Island: Staten Island Historical Society, 1950).