Delaware River View (from Sketchbook) 1857 - 1867

Thomas Hewes Hinckley made this graphite drawing, "Delaware River View," as part of a sketchbook, but the exact date of its creation remains unknown. Hinckley's delicate rendering captures a serene vista of the Delaware River, reflecting the cultural reverence for nature that defined much of 19th-century American art. But these landscapes often mask a more complex narrative of territorial expansion and the displacement of Indigenous peoples. The romantic portrayal of untouched wilderness conveniently ignores the forced removal of native communities from these very lands. Hinckley, like many artists of his time, participated in constructing a national identity rooted in the idealized vision of the American landscape, while at the same time obscuring the violent realities of its making. What does it mean to find beauty in a scene that has such a burdened history? How do we reconcile the aesthetic pleasure we derive from such images with the knowledge of the injustices they conceal?