# A General View of the Falls of Niagara

- By: Alvan Fisher (born Needham, MA 1792-died Dedham, MA 1863)
- Date: 1820
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Classification: Paintings
- Dimensions: 34 3/8 x 48 1/8 in. (87.2 x 122.3 cm.)
- Culture: Indians of North America
- Credit line: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase
- Museum: [Smithsonian Institution](https://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=8340)
- Rights: [CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/78d8f85dd2c00bf23dbb41f1f0b99680.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This scene by Alvan Fisher conveys the magnificent beauty of Niagara Falls, which quickly became an icon for the new nation. Tiny figures stand at the rim of the cataract, their gestures expressing awe and delight in the grandeur of the scene before them. Lacking a lengthy, cultured past, Americans looked to the grandeur of the landscape to reflect the scale of the new country’s ambitions. Just as the Seven Wonders of the World had given Europeans a sense of pride in their past, Niagara Falls and other natural wonders became symbols of America’s identity.