Up for sale is quite a special painting by the very talented self taught American artist Christian J. Walter. Depicting downtown Pittsburgh in circa 1910 this original oil painting on artist board depicts the famous City of Steel overlooking the Allegheny River and 6th Street Bridge. This steel bridge was scrapped in 1944 and rebuilt now called the Roberto Clemente Bridge. I found an incredible historical photograph showing this same scene just on the east side of the bridge with each building clearly visible in the painting. You can even see the top of the smokestack reaching over the top right of the tallest building. This photograph was taken in 1910 giving us a very good time to roughly place this painting. A long train can be seen billowing smoke in front of the buildings to the left while a ship travels up the river jetting out smoke as well. The bridge which was often shut down for games is seen with many vehicles and individuals walking across.

The painting measures 12 1/4 x 9 1/4 inches while the original gold wood frame measures 17 x 14 inches. The condition of the painting is very good with craquelure and a pin hole in the very top right and bottom right corner. This impressionist composition is well executed with great brushwork attesting to the talent and ability Christian possessed. This is a fine and rare example of Walter’s repertoire showing this bustling city scape and place of his birth, not another country side landscape. The images provided accurately represent the quality, condition and aesthetic beauty of this fine museum worthy oil painting of the City of Steel but if you have any questions please feel free to ask prior to purchasing!