View of Brunswick, N. Jersey

Periodca. 1796

MediumInk and graphite on paper

Dimensions8.5 × 10.2 in. (21.6 × 25.9 cm)

InscribedInscribed upper left, "No 7," and in upper center to upper right, "View of Brunswick N. Jersey / drawn by my father / about 1796 / A J Robertson."

ClassificationsLandscapes & Still Life

Credit LineGift of Stephen C. Clark, Esq., in Memory of his Father, Alfred Corning Clark, 1936

Object number1995.552

DescriptionA view looking along a riverbank at a series of docks and warehouses with three sailing vessels tied up at the docks. A tree and part of a fence or ladder establishes the left foreground. Beyond it is a three story warehouse with extensions behind it on the left. Two small single story structures are depicted between it and a large three story warehouse on a high foundation that features dormer windows in the top story and pulleys on both gable ends for moving goods to the upper stories of the building. Beyond the sailing vessels are a cluster of buildings at the end of a bridge with a lift span in its center.
Curatorial RemarksThe title of the drawing, "View of Brunswick N. Jersey," is believed to be in the handwriting of the Scottish-born artist Archibald Robertson (1765 - 1835), while the rest of the caption was added by his son, Andrew J. Robertson.NotesThis drawing depicts the riverfront of New Brunswick, Middlesex County, as it appeared before construction of the Delaware and Raritan Canal between 1830 and 1834. All of the docks and warehouses shown in this view, looking north from roughly New Street today, were removed to make way for the canal bed, which when first built was 75 feet wide and 7 feet deep. The canal entered tidewater near this location. The first Albany Street Bridge appears in the distance. It first opened to traffic on 2 November 1795, only eight months before artist Archibald Robertson visited New Brunswick.

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