| Among all the scenic wonders of the New World, one was foremost in the minds
of nineteenth-century Americans: Niagara Falls. First visited by European explorers
in the late seventeenth century, the cataracts had come to symbolize for many
Americans the power and vitality of their new nation. Citizens of the New World
were eager to prove their equality to the Old World in all things, and Niagara
was judged to be as good as or even better than anything Europe could offer in
the way of spectacular scenery. . . .
- Franklin Kelly, Curator of American and British Paintings
National Gallery of Art, Washington |
Text excerpted from A Capital Collection: Masterworks from
the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
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