Ralph Wheelock's Farm

c. 1822

Francis Alexander

Painter, American, 1800 - 1880

We look across a grassy field toward farm buildings spaced along a low rise, outlined against a blue sky in this long, horizontal landscape painting. Just over a dozen mounds, like green haystacks, create a row along the bottom edge of the composition. Several men wearing white shirts, black pants, and tall, black hats work with rakes nearby. One man, wearing a yellow hat, walks holding the hand of a child, who wears a red shirt. A dog trots alongside another man who carries a basket and a bottle. To our right, another man works next to a wagon loaded with the green harvest. Two brown oxen stand hitched to the wagon. The field stretches out in front of us. Four men work in neighboring rows, each holding a scythe, in the field to our left. At least a dozen buildings are lined up along the gently curving horizon, which comes a third of the way up the composition. There is a long, two-story, white house with a tan roof at the center. To either side are buildings in slate gray, mustard yellow, or brick red, sometimes spaced out and sometimes overlapping. A low rock wall runs up along the left edge of the painting, and two people ride horses in the lane on the far side. Tufts of trees are tucked in among the structures to our left, and a row of loosely spaced trees grows along the ridge to our right. White clouds line the horizon below a turquoise-blue sky. A band of nickel-gray clouds runs along the top edge of the painting.

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Recorded as from Massachusetts. (William Richmond, William's Antique Shop, Old Greenwich, Connecticut); sold 1954 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; gift 1965 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1957

  • American Primitive Paintings from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Part II, National Gallery of Art, 1957, no. 48, as Dennison Hall, Sturbridge, Massachusetts.

1968

  • American Naive Painting of the 18th and 19th Centuries: 111 Masterpieces from the Collection of E.W. and B.C. Garbisch, traveling exh. by Amer. Federation of Arts, New York, 1968-1970. no. 39. First venue: Grand Palais, Paris.

1970

  • American Naive Painting of the 18th and 19th Centuries: Masterpieces from the Collection of E.W. and B.C. Garbisch, organized by the Amer. Fed. of Arts, N.Y., and Mainichi News., Nihobashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, 1970, no cat.

1972

  • Sesquicentennial Exhibition, Cummer Gallery of Art, Jacksonville, Florida, 1972, no. 1.

1973

  • American Primitive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Holland Union, Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1973, exhibition guide (copy not located).

1978

  • The American Folk Art Tradition: Paintings from the Garbisch Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978.

1985

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, traveling exh. by the International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington, 1985-1987, no. 8, color repro. First venue: Museum of American Folk Art, New York.

1988

  • La Nascita di Una Nazione: Pittori americani dalla National Gallery of Art di Washington 1730-1880, Palazzo Pepoli Campogrande, Bologna; Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna di Ca'Pesaro, Venice, 1988-1989, no. 8, repro.

Bibliography

1962

  • Cooke, Hereward Lester, Jr. "Early America through the Eyes of Her Native Artists." National Geographic 122 (September 1962): 357.

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 10, repro.

1975

  • Little, Nina Fletcher. Country Arts in Early American Homes. New York, 1975: 37-38.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 19, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 543, no. 816, color repro.

1992

  • Chotner, Deborah, with contributions by Julie Aronson, Sarah D. Cash, and Laurie Weitzenkorn. American Naive Paintings. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 2-3, color repro. 2.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 20, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20184707

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