Falls of Niagara
1833
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
1833
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
You see a print of Niagara Falls in 1833. The water looks soft, almost like lace. The colors are muted—pinks and grays—because it’s an old print. This is an aquatint with hand coloring. That means it started as a metal plate, then ink was pushed into tiny dots. Someone later painted color on top. It’s not a photo. It’s a careful guess at what the falls looked like then. Try looking up another print by Hunt, Charles.
