The Retrieve

1850

William Tylee Ranney

Painter, American, 1813 - 1857

Two pale-skinned men in a marshy landscape look at a wide-eyed dog, which holds a dead duck in its mouth in this horizontal landscape painting. One man kneels facing our left in profile and holds one hand out toward the dog. The man has short, dark hair and a dark beard with no mustache. He wears a beige-colored jacket trimmed with red, dark brown pants, and knee-high brown boots. He holds a rifle by its barrel with his other hand so the stock rests on the ground in the lower right corner of the painting. Four dead ducks lie by his foot, where hobnails lining on the sole and heel gleam. The second man stands just behind and to the left of the kneeling fellow. The standing man is clean-shaven and wears a red, brimless, high-crowned cap on his dark hair. His jacket is golden brown, his pants are marine blue, and boots are pale brown. He loads or cleans the barrel of his rifle with a rod. He looks down at the dog, who looks intently at the kneeling man. The dog is mostly brown with long fur and white spots on its nose and down the front of its neck. The animal sits at attention with the bird’s wing clamped in its mouth. Tall marshy grasses and cattails grow around the men and dog, and around a narrow body of water in the near distance to the right. A larger body of water stretches to the horizon, which comes almost two-thirds of the way up the composition. The sky is streaked with pink along the horizon and blanketed with purple-tinged, gray clouds. The artist signed and dated the painting on the bottom edge, “W Ranney 1850.”

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

William Tylee Ranney set this scene in a favorite salt marsh near his northern New Jersey home. He chose his brother (kneeling) and a neighbor’s groomsman as models. Surrounded by tall grass and cattails, the two men pause as a springer spaniel proudly presents a scaup duck.

Ranney was an avid hunter, and critics often noted his skill in depicting proper practices and details. One praised The Retrieve for its careful portrayal of hunting season, mentioning the sky’s “autumnal dark, [with] gray and purple shades.”

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 71

Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Purchased from the artist by 1851 by William Wilson Corcoran [1798-1888], Washington; gift 1869 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1851

  • Twenty-sixth Annual Exhibition of the National Academy of Design, New York, 1851, no. 365.

1944

  • Sport in American Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1933, no. 82, as Duck Shooting.

1952

  • Man at Work, Denver Art Museum, 1952, unnumbered catalogue, as Duck Shooting.

1958

  • Shooting and Fishing in Art, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1958, no. 22, as Duck Shooting.

1962

  • William Ranney, Painter of the Early West, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Detroit Institute of Arts; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1962-1963, no. 48, as Duck Shooting.

1976

  • Corcoran [The American Genius]. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1976, unnumbered catalogue.

1981

  • Life in 19th Century America: An Exhibition of American Genre Painting, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, 1981, no. 20, as Duck Shooting.

1986

  • The American Animal: From the 1730's through the 1930's, Mansfield Art Center, Ohio, 1986, no. 15, as Duck Shooting.

1991

  • Sport in art from American Museums, National Art Museum of Sport, Indianapolis; Phoenix Art Museum; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York, 1991-1992, no. 17, as Duck Shooting.

2004

  • Figuratively Speaking: The Human Form in American Art, 1770-1950, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, unpublished checklist.

2005

  • Encouraging American Genius: Master Paintings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Parrish Art Museum, Southampton; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, 2005-2007, checklist no. 21 (shown in Washington only).

2006

  • Forging an American Identity: The Art of William Ranney, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody, Wyoming; Speed Art Museum, Louisville; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth; Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2006-2007, no. 59.

2013

  • American Journeys: Visions of Place, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 21 September 2013-28 September 2014, unpublished checklist.

2016

  • Wild Spaces, Open Seasons: Hunting and Fishing in American Art, The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha; Shelburne Museum, Vermont; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, 2016-2018, no. 55, repro.

Bibliography

1857

  • Lanman, Charles. Catalogue of W.W. Corcoran's Gallery. Washington, 1857: 9, no. 22.

2011

  • Strong, Lisa. "William Tylee Ranney, The Retrieve." In Corcoran Gallery of Art: American Paintings to 1945. Washington, 2011: 20, 100-101, 261, repro.

Inscriptions

lower center: W Ranney / 1850

Wikidata ID

Q20187992

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