Environs of Boston, from Corey's Hill, Brookline, Mass

Richardson's 1864 landscape view of Bostons environs provides another example of a ground-level or low-elevation urban view published during the 1850s and 1860s when bird's eyes views were just beginning to gain popularity. Published in 1864 at the end of the Civil War, this pastoral landscape belies the notion that Boston was an active participant in a turbulent and destructive war that the Union barely survived. In this presentation, Boston is viewed from the southwest. Using Corey Hill in Brookline as his vantage point, the artist places Brookline's semi-rural landscape in the foreground, with the yet unfilled Back Bay and city proper fading into the horizon. While Brookline appears to be a residential community composed primarily of private dwellings and churches, Boston proper is more densely settled, with smoke stacks, church steeples, and commercial buildings punctuating the skyline. Little is known about the artist. His various Boston addresses during the 1860s list him as a drawing master and teacher. Richardson traveled to Maryland and Virginia in May and June 1865, sketching scenery, military installations, and urban structures following the close of the Civil War

Courtesy of Boston Public Library

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1864

Boston Public Library

https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/

Public Domain