Charles Wilson Knapp (American, 1823–1900) View of Columbia Avenue Bridge, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia

Signed 'C W Knapp' bottom left; also with original preparer's label on upper stretcher verso, oil on canvas
8 x 12 in. (20.3 x 30.5cm)
Excecuted circa 1876.

Provenance

Provenance

Vose Galleries, Boston, Massachusetts.
Acquired directly from the above on October 20, 1997 (as View with a Bridge, Philadelphia).
Collection of Dr. Douglas S.Holsclaw, Jr., Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

Note

While the previous Lot focused on the main building of the 1876 Centennial Exposition, the present work depicts the nearby Columbia Avenue Bridge stretching over the Schuylkill river, which enabled the 10,000,000 visitors to access the exhibition site from Lancaster County. It is faitfully represented as the covered bridge of white pine and seven spans originally built in 1834, and serves as an important visual reminder of the rural state of the outskirts of Philadelphia then. A second bridge was erected in 1886 to carry the increasing freight traffic. The current bridge, officially called Columbia Railroad Bridge, dates from 1920 and is now a two train track concrete arch bridge.

Frame: 13 3/4 x 17 1/2 x 2 1/4 in.

The unlined canvas in overall good condition. Examination under UV light reveals a small repair on the bridge at center (with associated patch verso), to the left of the arch. With inpainting also visible in the sky at upper center and upper right corner. Pinpoint pigments appear purplish in the grass across the foreground: those do not to be restoration in our opinion. See specialist's pictures for more details.