Port of Philadelphia, Delaware River

In 1897 Thomas Anshutz made a summer journey down the Delaware River. He recorded the trip through his sketches and photographs which he used for future paintings. The "river trip [testified] to Anshutz's long-standing love of river life and river boats." (R.C. Griffin, Thomas Anshutz: Artist and Teacher, Seattle, Washington, 1994, p. 67) Port of Philadelphia, Delaware River is one such painting that resulted from this trip. Anshutz used a painterly style to record a seemingly quiet moment in the busy port of industrial Philadelphia.