A City of Fantasy

American 19th Century

National Gallery of Art

This painting shows a collection of buildings and towers on rolling green hills around a light gray body of water. In the bottom right corner, ships with billowing sails glide on a wide waterway that leads off into three rivers in different directions, each with multiple bridges spanning them. On the green land is a mix of buildings ranging from modest to towering structures, some resembling modern skyscrapers and others medieval fortresses and towers. The more modern buildings are farther in the distance, resting atop gray and blue clouds under a pale-yellow sky. The color palette includes muted earth tones, soft greens, browns, grays, blues, and off-whites.