Dixville Notch, Approach from West

Daniel Huntington's sketch captures the dramatic mountain pass of Dixville Notch in New Hampshire's White Mountains. Executed in ink on aged paper, the work employs gestural linework to suggest the rugged topography and elevation changes characteristic of the region. Huntington, a prominent American painter known for historical and allegorical subjects, here demonstrates the landscape artist's practice of preliminary field studies. The work documents both a specific geographical feature and the nineteenth-century tradition of artistic tourism through America's natural landmarks during the period when such scenic regions were gaining prominence in the national consciousness.