Today in Wheeling History: June 22—Lefevre James Cranstone, British painter who captured scenes of Wheeling before the Civil War in watercolor, died in Brisbane, Australia (1893).
Lefevre James Cranstone was born on March 6, 1822, in Hemel Hempstead, England. Trained at Henry Sass’s School of Art and the Royal Academy in London, Cranstone became known for his genre-style watercolor landscapes. In 1859, he embarked on a ten-month tour of the United States with his younger brother Alfred, visiting relatives in Virginia and Indiana. During this journey, Cranstone created nearly 300 pen and ink sketches and watercolors documenting antebellum American life. Among his subjects was the Ohio River near Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), which he captured in a vivid watercolor now housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Cranstone’s Wheeling work reflects his fascination with steamboat traffic and the industrial vitality of the Ohio River. His American sketches, including scenes from Wheeling, Washington, D.C., and Richmond, provide a rare outsider’s view of pre-Civil War America. He was also a vocal critic of slavery, writing a letter to the *Hemel Hempstead Gazette* in 1860 condemning the practice after witnessing a slave auction in Richmond.
After returning to England, Cranstone later emigrated to Australia following the death of his wife. He died in Brisbane on June 22, 1893, and is buried in Toowong Cemetery. His Wheeling sketches remain a valuable visual record of the city’s antebellum landscape.
To learn more: Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/4vdwj3er), Metropolitan Museum of Art (https://tinyurl.com/waznch7y), Artvee (https://tinyurl.com/ypkkn8wf)
Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Lefevre James Cranstone was born on March 6, 1822, in Hemel Hempstead, England. Trained at Henry Sass’s School of Art and the Royal Academy in London, Cranstone became known for his genre-style watercolor landscapes. In 1859, he embarked on a ten-month tour of the United States with his younger brother Alfred, visiting relatives in Virginia and Indiana. During this journey, Cranstone created nearly 300 pen and ink sketches and watercolors documenting antebellum American life. Among his subjects was the Ohio River near Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), which he captured in a vivid watercolor now housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Cranstone’s Wheeling work reflects his fascination with steamboat traffic and the industrial vitality of the Ohio River. His American sketches, including scenes from Wheeling, Washington, D.C., and Richmond, provide a rare outsider’s view of pre-Civil War America. He was also a vocal critic of slavery, writing a letter to the *Hemel Hempstead Gazette* in 1860 condemning the practice after witnessing a slave auction in Richmond.
After returning to England, Cranstone later emigrated to Australia following the death of his wife. He died in Brisbane on June 22, 1893, and is buried in Toowong Cemetery. His Wheeling sketches remain a valuable visual record of the city’s antebellum landscape.
To learn more: Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/4vdwj3er), Metropolitan Museum of Art (https://tinyurl.com/waznch7y), Artvee (https://tinyurl.com/ypkkn8wf)
Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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