Artwork
Wine Barrels Loaded onto a Sailing Barge at Vevey
Wine Barrels Loaded onto a Sailing Barge at Vevey is a graphite drawing by the Romanticist artist Johann Jakob Ulrich. It dates from 1850 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:by later hand, upper center verso in ink: 1080/20; by later hand, upper right in graphite: 26.5 x 34.8; lower center in graphite: Joh Jak Ulrich / 1798 - 1877; by later hand, lower left verso in graphite: 41064
About this work
Overview
Johann Jakob Ulrich’s watercolor, dated around 1850, depicts a sailing barge loaded with wine barrels on a lake near Vevey. The composition centers on the vessel, with a dock on the left and a solitary figure attending to the cargo. A second sailboat drifts in the distance, suggesting a calm, daylight setting.
Subject & Meaning
The work records a moment of commercial activity on the Swiss lakeshore, emphasizing the transport of wine, a valuable commodity, in the mid‑nineteenth century. The solitary dockhand and the orderly arrangement of barrels convey both the labor involved and the orderly rhythm of lakeside trade.
Technique & Style
Executed in watercolor over graphite on wove paper, the piece employs a restrained palette of warm earth tones. Soft, fluid brushstrokes render the water’s surface and sky, while finer graphite lines delineate the rigging and barrel textures, reflecting Ulrich’s careful observation within a Romantic‑leaning naturalism.
History & Provenance
Created circa 1850, the drawing belongs to Ulrich’s body of work documenting Swiss landscapes and everyday scenes. Its provenance traces through private collections before entering a museum holding, where it serves as an example of mid‑century Swiss genre watercolor.
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