Long Island Farmhouses

1862–63
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 756
An entry in Mount’s diary records that he began a painting of the houses of his brother and of one John Davis in Setauket, Long Island, in November 1862, completing it the following spring. Mount composed the work from the window of his portable studio, a specially made room on wheels, from which he directly captured convincing details and limpid natural sunlight. The dearth of genre content here is unusual for the artist, but he chose to commemorate the tranquility of the village in early spring, in contrast to the turmoil of the Civil War, which was raging at the time.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Long Island Farmhouses
  • Artist: William Sidney Mount (American, Setauket, New York 1807–1868 Setauket, New York)
  • Date: 1862–63
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 21 7/8 x 29 7/8 in. (55.6 x 75.9 cm)
  • Credit Line: Gift of Louise F. Wickham, in memory of her father, William H. Wickham, 1928
  • Object Number: 28.104
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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