A View of Reading

Item

Title

A View of Reading

Creator

F. A. Holtzwart
American, 19th century
Published by Lehman & Duval, Philadelphia

Date

1837

Materials

Lithograph with hand coloring

Measurements

18-1/8 x 25-3/8 in. (46 x 64.4 cm)

Description

Not a great deal is known about F. A. Holtzwart, other than that, as a lithographer in the firm of Lehman & Duval, he was a skilled enough at his trade to be entrusted with drawing his own view of Reading onto the stone. The two churches in the center of the composition are Trinity Lutheran Church, built in 1791, and, to its right, the First Reformed Church, built in 1823. Both are still standing. The body of water that appears here to be a small lake is actually the Schuylkill River, and the covered bridge spanning the river to the left is the Harrisburg (Penn Street) Bridge, constructed in 1818.

Adapted from the entry written by Judith Hansen O’Toole for the 1980 Pennsylvania Prints exhibition catalogue.

Source

Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University, partial gift and purchase from John C. O’Connor and Ralph M. Yeager.

Identifier

86.557

Rights

This image is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. Other uses are not permitted.