An East View of the Great Cataract of Niagara [SEP] creator
An East View of the Great Cataract of Niagara
An East View of the Great Cataract of Niagara is a historic watercolour of Niagara Falls painted on site by Thomas Davies (–1812) in 1762. It was the first eyewitness painting and the first accurate view of the falls.
History.
Thomas Davies was a British Army officer in the Royal Artillery and received training in topographic drawing at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. During the French and Indian War, he served under General Jeffery Amherst. After the attack
the Fort Ticonderoga and then at Fort Crown Point. In 1760, he fought in the attack against Montreal and commanded a boat in a naval battle, which he also illustrated.
After the attack against Montreal, he surveyed the regions surrounding Lake Ontario for several years, producing both military maps and artistic landscapes. He painted a series of waterfalls, including views of Great Seneca Falls and Niagara Falls. His 1762 watercolour of Niagara Falls, "An East View of the Great Cataract of Niagara", was the first eyewitness