San Antonio River

The play of light on water, through leaves and off masonry, animates this quiet scene of a house on the banks of the San Antonio River on West Commerce Street downtown (today, in the heart of the city’s Riverwalk). One of San Antonio’s earliest professional artists, Robert Jenkins Onderdonk moved to Texas in 1879 after art school in New York. He became one of the city’s most influential artists, both for his teaching as well as for his images documenting the characters and charm of his adopted city.