Artwork
Macomb's Dam Hotel

Macomb's Dam Hotel is an oil painting by the Realist artist M. A. Sullivan. It dates from 1868 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. M.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The inclusion of both the structure and individual figures provides a snapshot of the social environment surrounding the hotel at the time of its inception.
Painted in 1868 by M. A. Sullivan, this oil on canvas work visually documents the Macomb's Dam Hotel. The composition features the hotel building as its central architectural subject, situated within a landscape that includes a tree. Human figures, specifically a man and a woman, are depicted within the scene, suggesting the daily activity or patronage associated with the establishment.
As a realistic representation rather than an allegorical piece, the work functions primarily as a topographical record of this specific location and its inhabitants during the late nineteenth century. The inclusion of both the structure and individual figures provides a snapshot of the social environment surrounding the hotel at the time of its inception.
Technique & Style
Macomb's Dam Hotel, created in 1868 by M. A. Sullivan, is an oil painting executed on a canvas support. The work measures 59.7 centimeters in height and 82.6 centimeters in width. As an oil-on-canvas piece, the medium allows for the detailed depiction of the titular hotel structure alongside surrounding elements such as trees and figures, specifically a man and a woman.
The painting remains part of the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. While specific details regarding the artist's brushwork or the current physical condition of the canvas are not detailed in the provided records, the formal composition centers on the architectural subject and its immediate environment, rendered through traditional 19th-century oil painting techniques.
History & Provenance
Macomb's Dam Hotel is an oil-on-canvas painting created by M. A. Sullivan in 1868, measuring 59.7 cm in height and 82.6 cm in width and depicting a hotel with surrounding trees and figures of a man and a woman. It is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. While the specific commission details and original patron are not recorded in the available documentation, the painting's inception is firmly dated to 1868. No accession number or exhibition history is documented in the available sources.
Overview
M. A. Sullivan's 1868 oil painting, "Macomb's Dam Hotel," captures a specific architectural subject. This work is part of the collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it represents a moment in American genre painting. The artist utilized oil paint to render the detailed scene, providing a glimpse into a historical establishment and its surroundings.
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Artist & collection
Artist
M. A. Sullivan painted New York's built world in the 1860s. Macomb's Dam Hotel (1868) shows a wooden tavern and toll-gate straddling the Harlem River just north of Manhattan, the shoreline busy with boats and figures.…


















