Artist/Maker Jervis McEntee (American, 1828 – 1891)

View at Rondout, New York

1862

Graphite with touches of white heightening on light brown paper

Sheet: 7 11/16 in. × 10 in. (19.5 × 25.4 cm)

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Stuart P. Feld

2009.48

This is obviously a drawing executed en plein air, whose date is dutifully recorded by the artist in an inscription to underline its authenticity. It preserves a landscape near McEntee's birthplace, where he spent his summers."Rondout," "pronounced "ron doubt," (often mis-pronounced "ROUND OUT") was a village located on the north side of Rondout Creek near its mouth on the Hudson River in Ulster County. The name derives from the fort, or redoubt, that was erected near the mouth of the creek. The Dutch equivalent of the English word redoubt (meaning a fort or stronghold) is reduyt. In the Dutch records of Wildwyck, however, the spelling used to designate this same fort is invariably Ronduyt during the earliest period, with the present form rondout (often capitalized) appearing as early as November 22, 1666. Incorporated on April 4, 1849, Rondout served as a Hudson River port for the city of Kingston located about a mile distant but was later incorporated into it. Its environs served as a popular sketching ground for a number of nineteenth-century artists.

InscribedInscribed and dated at lower left: "Roundout July 25th. 1862"

ClassificationsDRAWINGS