Idyllic Gowanus, Oil on Canvas

While doing a little background on the canal/cruising Wikipedia, we stumbled across this:

Given its current state, one could be forgiven for not recognizing as the Gowanus, but apparently in 1851, the area looked enough like this to inspire British/Australian artist Henry Gritten to paint “Sun Set at Gowanus Bay in the Bay of New York.”

The original hangs in the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts in Tasmania. Here in Brooklyn, we’re stuck with the real thing.