A Gleamy Effect—Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania 1835 - 1840

George Harvey made "A Gleamy Effect—Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania" using watercolor on paper. Harvey’s landscapes are visual records of the early to mid-19th century American environment. Born in Tottenham, England, he immigrated to the United States in 1832. Here, the artist captures a rural scene in Pennsylvania. We see a road, a man driving a horse drawn cart, and rolling hills, which seems to embody the ideal of manifest destiny. But, look closer: Harvey was commissioned by a real estate company to paint these images to entice Europeans to immigrate to the United States. The image promotes settlement, but obscures the violent displacement of indigenous peoples, and the dependence on enslaved labor to cultivate the land. What appears as a serene landscape also reflects complex issues of immigration, land ownership, and the labor practices that shaped the American economy.