This winter scene by Nicholas Hornyansky depicts the historic grounds of Old Fort Niagara rendered in his characteristic etching-and-aquatint style, with delicate washes of pale blue, lavender, and soft grey. A winding stone path curves across the snow-covered parade ground, leading the viewer’s eye toward the massive stone French Castle at the right, its many dormer windows and steep roofline standing sharply against the cold sky. Three tall flagpoles rise in front of the building, their flags—French, American, and British—fluttering stiffly in the winter wind, suggesting centuries of layered military history.

To the left, a smaller stone structure sits near the shoreline of the Niagara River, its roof dusted with snow. Beyond it, the pale turquoise water cuts a band of colour between the icy foreground and the distant blue-violet hills of Lewiston and Queenston. Bare poplars stand against the horizon, their slender forms anchoring the composition’s left edge. In the lower foreground rests a circular stone well, half-buried in snow, while the long shadows of the flagpoles stretch toward it, creating a subtle geometric rhythm across the whitened ground.

Hornyansky’s handling of line is crisp yet expressive, giving the architecture a firm presence while allowing the landscape and sky to soften into atmospheric winter light. The overall impression is quiet, historical, and contemplative—an evocative winter portrait of Fort Niagara.