Viaduct on the Baltimore and Washington Railroad (Primary Title)
James Salisbury Burt, American, active 1830 - 1849 (Artist)
James Salisbury Burt flourished as a landscape and portrait painter in Boston from about 1835 through 1849. He adapted conventions of Baroque landscape painting, particularly those popularized by the French artist Claude Lorraine, evident in the framing “Claudean” trees, graceful stream, and atmospheric perspective in Viaduct on the Baltimore and Washington Railroad. His subject is the Thomas Viaduct, a monumental railway bridge in Relay, Maryland. With its classically inspired Roman arches and obelisk monument to its construction, the bridge recalls the classical architecture of the Baroque landscapes that inspired Burt, but with the addition of modern technology, the steam engine. Enveloping the locomotive and viaduct within natural scenery, the composition valorizes the view from the train and even the vista framed by the viaduct arches.
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