"Spring Fishing"

DateProbably ca 1825

MediumWatercolor and pencil on wove paper

DimensionsPrimary support: 8 3/8" x 9 5/8" and Framed 10 1/4" x 11 1/2"

Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Object number1934.301.6

DescriptionWatercolor genre scene. Two men dressed in bright blue coats with brown and white pants are reclining on the banks of a river with fishing polies in their hands. There is a section of white fence running along the river bank in the left foreground with a cluster of blue flowers and bullrushes. Standing in the river on the left side are two horned brown cows and a grey goat. One of the cows is peacefully drinking while the other stands switching her tail. The goat alertly watches them. Curving around the bank on the other side of the river is a mill wheel, a group of trees and a two-story white mill house with a red chimney. On the farthest bank in the center is a large white two-story house with brown grained front door and five red chimneys. Two out-buildings flank the house. In front of the central house is a line of bushes at the water's edge with two small boats, one with sails in the water. In front of the boats is a curved bridge spanning the river from the mill house to a large broken tree on the right side surrounded by bushes. Crossing the bridge is a man in a blue coat and black hat, carrying a sack. On the riverbank to the left of the broken tree is a girl in a white dress and yellow cap.
Label TextIllustrations in contemporary ladies magazines and popular travel books did not provide the only sources for amateur artists. This inidentified artist carefully copied the scene out of the center of a Staffordshire indented dish made by John Meir of Tunstall between 1810 and 1820. To fit the curve of the dish the branches of the tree were eliminated in the upper right of the transfer print, and this unidentified artist faithfully copied the original leaving stumpy broken tree trunks.
ProvenanceStephen Van Rensselaer, Williamsburg, Va.; Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.; Given to C. W. by Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.