American Art Four Children in a Courtyard Made in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America1795 Jeremiah Paul, American, first documented 1791, died 1820 Oil on canvas * Gallery 107, American Art, first floor 2007-15-1 Gift of the McNeil Americana Collection, 2007 |
LabelPortraiture is the subject of this picture: as the boy attempts to strike a pose appropriate for posterity, the girl attentively records his likeness. Jeremiah Paul based this image on a print after a work by British artist Richard Morton Payne; the practice of using imported prints as models was common among American painters of the time. While Paul’s contemporaries noted his diverse undertakings and peripatetic lifestyle, they also praised his precocious talent. He produced portraits, genre scenes (realistic depictions of everyday life), and historical paintings like The Death of Julius Caesar and The Washington Family, as well as signs, phantasmagorias, stage scenery, and a nine-by-seven-foot Venus and Cupid.* Works in the collection are moved off view for many different reasons. Although gallery locations on the website are updated regularly, there is no guarantee that this object will be on display on the day of your visit. |
