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Secondary sourcePaintingc. 1811-1813

The Monument to Alexander Hamilton at Weehawken

Pavel Svinyin · c. 1811-1813

A watercolor by Pavel Svinyin recording the early memorial obelisk at the Weehawken dueling ground where Hamilton died, a monument that no longer survives.

This image records the lost monument erected at the site where Hamilton was fatally wounded in his famous duel.

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Black-and-white reproduction of a watercolor landscape: a cliffside with trees on the right, a small white obelisk behind an iron fence at the cliff base, a sailboat on a river, and a distant town on the left shore under a pale sky.
Pavel Svinyin, The Monument to Alexander Hamilton at Weehawken, c. 1811-1813. Metropolitan Museum of Art.

About this source

What it is

This watercolor, made by Pavel Svinyin around 1811–13, shows a landscape with a cliffside, trees, and a small white obelisk behind an iron fence near the shore, with a sailboat on the river and a town in the distance.

Why it matters

The scene depicts an early monument erected at the dueling ground in Weehawken where Alexander Hamilton was fatally wounded. The monument shown in this image is now lost, making Svinyin's watercolor an important visual record of how the site was marked and remembered soon after Hamilton's death.

Look closer

  • Why might people have built a monument at the exact site of the duel?
  • What do the surrounding details—the river, boat, and distant town—add to the scene?
  • Why is this image valuable now that the actual monument no longer exists?

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