What a 19th century painter of the natural world saw from her Carroll Gardens backyard and rooftop

When Fidelia Bridges moved to 93 First Place in Brooklyn in 1854, her neighborhood was an enclave of recently built brownstones set back from the street with roomy front gardens. Years later, in 1867, something compelled her to paint that front garden. Perhaps it was the contrast between the delicate yellow buds on bushes, the still-bare trees, and the fortress of stone houses across First Place. That same year, she also captured the early evening view from her top-floor window, centering a crescent moon against the muted skies over sparsely developed Brooklyn. Both are unusual paintings, as streetscapes didn’t become popularized until the Ashcan artists arrived at the end of the 19th century, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. But in Civil War-era Brooklyn, Bridges was an unusual person. Born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1834, Bridges was orphaned at 15. Traumatized by her parents’ deaths, she spent time in the country, staying in bed and drawing, as “her artistic talents…