Agriculture & Rural Scenes Gallery

A Captive Audience, 1911 (oil on canvas)

NOO56915 A Captive Audience, 1911 (oil on canvas) by Blacklock, William Kay (1872-1922); 161.3x193.8 cm; Private Collection; (add.info.: Mother and Child with Harvesters); Photo A© John Noott Galleries, Broadway, Worcestershire, UK; English, out of copyright

© © John Noott Galleries, Broadway, Worcestershire, UK / Bridgeman Images

Baby, Bales, Clogs, Corn, Ear, English, Girl, Maternal Love, Mzpainting, Painting, Refreshment, Resting, Scythe, Shade, Sharpening, Summer, Working Mother

Postcard depicting kitchen gardens for workers at Pithiviers, before 1914 (b/w photo)

CHT217712 Postcard depicting kitchen gardens for workers at Pithiviers, before 1914 (b/w photo) by French Photographer, (20th century); Ligue Francaise du Coin de Terre et du Foyer, Paris, France; (add.info.: Ligue founded in 1896 by Abbot Jules Lemire (1853-1928) became Federation Nationale des Jardins Ouvriers in 1921, then Jardins Familiaux in 1952;); A© Archives Charmet; French, out of copyright

© © Archives Charmet / Bridgeman Images

A Calm Watering Place--Extensive and Boundless Scene with Cattle, 1816 (oil on panel)

500198 A Calm Watering Place--Extensive and Boundless Scene with Cattle, 1816 (oil on panel)
by Fisher, Alvan (1792-1863); 78x102.2 cm; Cleveland Museum of Art, OH, USA; (add.info.: In this prime example of Fisher's early rural pictures, a ferry delivers two aristocratic women and their belongings to the shore, as a herd of cattle rests in the foreground. Originally thought to depict the town of Northumberland, Pennsylvania, records of the artist's travels suggest the painting more likely represents an area of New England. Although simple and pastoral in its scenery, the work displays a degree of sophistication in the strong backlighting of the rider at the left and the delicate reflections of the boats in the water---details which belie Fisher's primarily self-taught status. As a youth, he did receive brief instruction from a painter of clock faces, but the two-dimensional patterning of the clouds in this work exposes his lack of formal training in the fine arts.
While the winding river and hazy background in the scene are similar to paintings of the Hudson River School, Fisher's work precedes this group of artists by many years. Fisher's early concentration on the pastoral genre scene marks him as perhaps the first American-born artist to specialize in landscape painting. This important contribution laid the groundwork for artists like Thomas Cole to rise to popularity in the mid 1820s.); Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund; American, out of copyright

© Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund / Bridgeman Images