Landscape with Ruins (recto, from sketchbook)

McEntee employed graphite for structural outlines and applied opaque white gouache to highlight the ruins, allowing the pigment to stand out against the cool blue ground. The choice of blue paper functions as a tonal base, giving the white accents a luminous, moonlit effect characteristic of informal sketchwork.

The drawing originates from a pocket sketchbook that McEntee carried while traveling the Hudson River Valley. Though the artist is less celebrated than some of his contemporaries, his close ties to leading figures of the Hudson River School are documented through correspondence and journal entries.

Produced during the later phase of the Hudson River School, the work reflects the movement’s enduring interest in depicting the American wilderness alongside subtle signs of civilization. Its modest scale and sketch-like execution illustrate the practice of on-site recording that artists used to develop larger studio compositions.