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No image number on slide
Boy and Girl in Mountain Landscape
No image number on slide

Boy and Girl in Mountain Landscape

Dateca. 1850
OriginAmerica, Delaware (probably)
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 48 x 38in. (121.9 x 96.5cm) and Framed: 52 1/4 x 42 1/4in.
Credit LineGift of the John D. Rockefeller, 3rd, Fund, Inc., through the generosity and interest of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, 3rd, and members of the family.
Object number1979.100.4
DescriptionA fashionably dressed boy and girl loom large on the canvas with a hen and six chickens at left and a feline form (cat? or tiger cub?) at right. The girl wears a high-waisted red dress with an off-the shoulder neckline with short braceleted sleeves edged in lace. A dove struggles in her poorly painted clasped hands. The boy, who seems to be sitting on his dog, wears a black, high-necked shirt with an overall sprig pattern in red and green and gold bottom. HIs trousers are white, and his knee-length waisted frock coat has wide lapels and a ruffled bertha collar of white muslin. Schematized, expressionless faces. Puzzling lack of detail (no shoelaces). Quickly painted, romantic theatrical landscape to left, nebulous brown tree at right. Italianate towered structure in left middle ground situated at edge of waterfall tumbling into stream with tree falling into it.
Label TextThis is a large, somewhat puzzling depiction of two stylishly dressed children, a boy and a girl, and an improbable combination of pets posed at the edge of a rocky path. A dramatic mountainous landscape looms abruptly behind them. The paint has been quickly and knowingly applied to achieve maximum effect with minimum effort. Except for a sprig pattern in the boy's shirt, particularized details, including shoelaces, are omitted. Even the children's faces are schematized and expressionless, and their bodies are so ill defined that the boy appears to be sitting on his dog's back. From the evidence, it appears that the unidentified artist had some training in ornamental painting but little experience with portraiture.
ProvenancePurchased from Miss Blanche Irvine, Downing- town, Pa., June 9, 1936, for use at Bassett Hall, the Williamsburg home of Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller Jr. Given to C.W.F. in 1979.