The White Bridge

During the 1890s, John Henry Twachtman purchased a seventeen-acre farm near Greenwich, Connecticut, and drew heavily upon its surroundings for his subject matter. The white footbridge depicted here spanned Horseneck Brook on his property. Compression of pictorial space and the use of a strong diagonal reveal Twachtman's debt to, and admiration of, Japanese aesthetics. The key elements of the composition (i.e., the brook, the bridge, and branches of the foreground tree) all converge and focus the viewpoint, while touches of emerald evergreens frame the White Bridge for emphasis.The gilded frame is original to the picture and is widely believed to be a design by the architect, Stanford White.