Village of Long Branch, New Jersey 1849

Period1849

MediumWatercolor and ink on paper

Dimensions13.2 × 20 in. (33.5 × 50.8 cm)

InscribedInscribed in large letters lower center, "VILLLAGE [sic] OF LONG BRANCH NJ 1849." Note: the year has been written in a different hand and ink.

SignedInitialed lower right, "J P."

ClassificationsLandscapes & Still Life

Credit LineGift of Mrs. J. Amory Haskell, 1936

Object number1995.553

DescriptionA full color villagescape view of a group of one and two story houses (some with outbuildings), commercial structures, a church, and a school, all clustered around the intersection of three roads marked by a flagpole. The buildings all have black roofs, and, except for one house in center foreground, black windows. Picket, board and rail fences mark off yards and larger lots as well as property frontage along the roads. Trees dot the landscape, and an orchard appears in the lower right corner. Ornamental plantings line several of the roads. An outhouse is depicted in the lower left foreground.
Curatorial RemarksThere are presently four works known by Joshua Parker - three views of Long Branch village dated 1834, 1837 and 1849, and another drawing of nearby Oceanport dated 1857. Two are done in monochromatic colors of gray or black, and the other two are in full color. The four villagescapes are signed variously "J. Parker," "Joshua Parker," or simply initialed "J P." Parker's unusual style did not change between 1834 and 1857. He depicted houses in the same manner with black windows and roofs, plus his three views of Long Branch village are taken from the same vantage point and with the same untrained manner of depicting perspective. What the village drawings do document, however, is the rapid pace of change at Long Branch in those years. Broadway, for example, becomes a busier thoroughfare lined with new commercial buildings, a church, and a school. Smaller streets have also been opened up on either side of Norwood Avenue in areas that were formerly large lots. For the 1834 Long Branch watercolor, see accession number 1080.NotesThe scene depicts the village of Long Branch, Monmouth County, as it appeared in 1849, looking north. The road running from left to right in the middle distance is Broadway. Norwood Avenue in the center foreground intersects with it at right angles, while Bath Avenue angles off from the intersection to the lower right corner. The church on the left with a square tower is the Reformed Dutch Church, construction of which began in 1848. The house of worship was dedicated on 22 November 1849. On the right, the large building with a tower and spire is a school building completed in 1840. The name of Joshua Parker, who only initialled this work in the lower right corner, comes from another view owned privately of nearby Oceanport by this distinctive artist that is signed with his first and last names. Efforts to identify him further have so far not proven successful, even though the large Parker family lived in the Long Branch / Little Silver area since the earliest years of settlement in that part of Monmouth County.

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