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Image Not Available for A Lake, North America
A Lake, North America
Image Not Available for A Lake, North America

A Lake, North America

Artist Raphael Lamar West (American, 1768 - 1850)
Dateca. 1800
MediumInk over chalk on blued paper
DimensionsUnframed: 11 5/16 × 17 inches (28.73 × 43.18 cm)
Framed: 22 × 27 1/2 inches (55.88 × 69.85 cm)
Credit LineBequest of Milton McGreevy
Object number81-30/93
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The eldest son of the esteemed American artist Benjamin West, Raphael Lamar West may have sketched this scene while on a trip to upstate New York around 1800. Primarily through contour lines with hatching for tone, he suggested a cloud-filled sky above rocky hills surrounding a placid lake. West was not the only person to find the locale favorable. A cabin nestles in the hillside at the right. Two figures stand on the lakeshore while a third occupies a small boat near the composition's center.

It is not known whether this sketch was an end unto itself or employed as a preparatory tool to serve as a visual reminder of the scene for a subsequent oil painting or watercolor.
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