View Along the Delaware River

Period1850

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions10 × 14 in. (25.4 × 35.6 cm)

InscribedOld torn paper label fragment on reverse reads, "No. [?] [?] Jersey [?]hore / Inlet with [?] figures, vessels [?] / original by Tho[mas] Birch."

SignedSigned lower left, "T. Birch 1850."

ClassificationsLandscapes & Still Life

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. William C. Riker, 1948

Object number3256

DescriptionA view along the Delaware River from the New Jersey side looking south. Two small boats are beached in an inlet in the foreground. One male figure is carrying a mast and sail over his shoulder toward one of the boats, which has a second male figure in it poling the vessel onto the beach. The second vessel is anchored to the beach. A marshy bar separates the inlet from the river, which has four small sailing vessels on it, plus one three-masted ship. The river bank on the left has an eroded bank above a continuation of the beach, with another sailing vessel and human figure depicted in the distance. The foliage on the trees and bushes above the bank on the left suggest an early fall date for the painting. A partly cloudy sky completes the composition.
Curatorial RemarksThis painting is dated 1851, the year before Thomas Birch died at the age of seventy-one.

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