Old Windmills, Virginia

 

James David Smillie

  1833 - 1909 (biography)

1890  

softground etching 

7 x 5" platemark (image 6-3/4 x 4-3/4") 

pencil, lower right 

not stated 

pencil annotated "JDS imp", lower left; signed in the plate, lower left 

W62, illus. p. 191; JDS62; LC15 

ivory laid china 

proof 

 

BC094 

$550.00 

Also titled "Old Windmills, Coast of Virginia", Smillie captures the 17th century English post-mills that used to operate along coast of Virginia, brought by colonizers to process grain as well as improve irrigation for tobacco farming. By the time Smillie arrived at Virginia Beach with his brother, George, in July of 1890, the mills were defunct, with torn sails and disintigrating foundations. Despite this, Smillie's composition is an elegant homage to human ingenuity and the passage of time.

Surviving post-mills have been moved to various historical sites, but the importance of the windmill to human productivity remains. Offshore industrial windmills have since been built off the coast of Virginia, leading the way toward a future with sustainable energy.