Francis Alexander

American, 1800 - 1880

Explore Selected Works

Francis Alexander, Aaron Baldwin, c. 1835, oil on wood, Gift of Constance Cushing Bessey, 1945.11.1

Aaron Baldwin

Francis Alexander · c. 1835 · oil on wood ·  Accession ID  1945.11.1

Francis Alexander, Sarah Blake Sturgis, 1835, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1947.17.18

Sarah Blake Sturgis

Francis Alexander · 1835 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1947.17.18

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.
Francis Alexander, Ralph Wheelock's Farm, c. 1822, oil on canvas, Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1965.15.3

Ralph Wheelock's Farm

Francis Alexander · c. 1822 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1965.15.3

Bibliography

1869

  • Dunlap, William. A History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States. 2 vols. 1834. Reprint. New York, 1969: 2:426-433.

1931

  • Peters, Harry T. America on Stone. Garden City, New York, 1931: 74.

1953

  • Pierce, Catherine W. "Francis Alexander." Old Time New England 44 (October-December 1953): 29-46.

1965

  • Pierce, Catharine W. "Further Notes on Francis Alexander." Old Time New England 56 (October-December 1965): 35-44.

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: 1.

1996

  • Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 3.