Mirage on the Colorado Desert, Chromolithograph by Blake, 1856

A pale, hazy desert stretches toward a distant horizon under a vast arched sky, with faint shapes suggesting a mirage near the left edge. In the lower right, a lone figure on horseback, with a pack animal, looks out across the flat sand. The scene is rendered in soft tinted chromolithography with muted ochre and gray tones.

Artist

Blake

Date

1856

Medium

paper (overall materials) ink (overall materials)

Source

Smithsonian (National Museum of American History)

Size

1280 × 976 px

Credit (appreciated, not required for public-domain works): Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History