Browse

Accession #	41.624
Artist	Francis Guy
Title	View of Baltimore from Chapel Hill
Date	1802-1803
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	47 7/16 × 93 9/16 in. (120.5 × 237.6 cm) frame: 51 x 96 1/4 x 3 in. (129.5 x 244.5 x 7.6 cm)
Credit Line	Gift of George Dobbin Brown
Location	Visible Storage: Case 16, Screen N (Paintings)

Curatorial Remarks: Francis Guy’s prospect of Baltimore meticulously records the city’s distinctive topographical features, from the cliffs of Jones Falls Valley and “Howard’s Elm” in the foreground to the dense cluster of buildings that stretches to the harbor front. The contrast between built structures and natural forms speaks to a landscape transformed by urban development. Many of the buildings are readily identifiable, including the octagonal Pantheon (left foreground), where Guy planned to exhibit panoramic paintings. His talent for rendering architecture also earned him commissions for “portraits” of the country estates of Baltimore’s gentry.