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4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2023.
Plowing
4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2023.
4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2023.

Plowing

Artist William Morris Hunt (American, 1824 - 1879)
Date1876
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 38 3/8 x 56 1/4 in. (97.5 x 142.9 cm)
Overall, Frame: 46 x 64 in. (116.8 x 162.6 cm)
ClassificationsAmerican art
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number71.661
Terms
  • Plowing
  • Farming
  • Brown
  • Cream
  • White
  • Black
  • Green
  • Pale blue
  • Red
On View
On view
DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting. A team of two horses and two cattle plow the earth. One man guides the team of animals, walking beside the cattle; another man steadies the machinery. The field appears barren. The background is a distant sky billowing with cumulonimbus clouds. The palette is primarily monochromatic earth tones: the darks colors are brown and black; the light colors are gray, blue, and yellow values.

Label TextWilliam Morris Hunt American, 1827–1879 Plowing, 1876 Oil on canvas Working in concert, men and animals drag a plow in an expansive landscape, overturning the thick earth of a New England field. William Morris Hunt’s monumental depiction of the simple dignity of agricultural labor was informed by the years he spent in France studying the work of the Barbizon school of painters, particularly Jean-Francois Millet. Following the example of the French artists, Hunt developed a naturalistic style, which emphasized the painter’s straightforward description of nature’s appearances over the refined finish of earlier American landscape painting. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.661
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