The Hobby Horse

c. 1840

Robert Peckham

Painter, American, 1785 - 1877

Two children with pale, peachy skin stand and sit on a rocking horse in a wallpapered interior in this square painting. Both children have short, honey-brown hair, high foreheads, dark blue eyes, and small, rounded noses. Their cheeks are smooth and the corners of their thin, pale pink lips curl slightly up. Both wear dresses with puffy, elbow-length sleeves, white collars, calf-length skirts, and wide, white pantaloons over white stockings. At the center of the composition, one child sits astride the rocking horse, which faces our right in profile. The skirt of the forest-green dress splits at the waist to fall open on either side of a white garment underneath. That child’s head turns back over one shoulder to look down and to our left. One black shoe rests in a stirrup, and the child holds a riding crop in one hand. The horse is dappled with fawn brown and white, and has a parchment-brown mane and tail. The horse’s eye we can see is black and its red mouth is open around the bridle and reins. The second child stands at the back of the rocking horse, hands resting on the crossbar that connects the toy's long, curving rockers. That child wears a crimson-red dress and holds the red ribbon of a straw bonnet in one hand. The hair is parted down the middle and that child looks at us. A black cap with a curved, shiny visor and tassels hanging from the crown rests on the base of the rocking horse. The rug has a stylized, terracotta-orange floral pattern against a pine-green background. The wall behind the children is striped with wide bands of golden yellow and moss green. A door with a gold-colored doorknob is swung inward to our left, behind the child in red, to reveal the profile of a staircase beyond. To our right, just behind the horse’s head, a wooden table is draped with a cloth patterned with vines and leaves in dark green against a pea-green background. A lamp with a tall, spindly brass base is topped with a squat, round white globe. A folded newspaper behind the child in green could rest on the table, or could be held by that child. An inscription on the masthead of the paper begins, “Dai.”

Media Options

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

Information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Naive Paintings, pages 493-495, which is available as a free PDF https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/American%20Naive%20Painting.pdf

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 63

Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Recorded as from Massachusetts. (unknown antique dealer, Billerica, Massachusetts). (Vose Galleries, Boston); sold 1953 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; gift 1955 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1954

  • American Primitive Paintings from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Part I, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1954, no. 89.

1955

  • American Primitive Paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1955.

1961

  • 101 Masterpieces of American Primitive Painting from the Collection of E.W. and B.C. Garbisch, traveling exh. by the Amer. Federation of Arts, New York, 1961-1964, no. 66, color repro. First venue: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, N.Y.

1967

  • Fifty Masterpieces of American Primitive Painting from the Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida, 1967, no cat.

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. Fed. of Arts, N.Y., 1968-1970, no. 62, repro. 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

  • American Primitive Painting, South Texas Artmobile, Corpus Christi, traveling exhibition by the International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington, 1972-1973, no cat.

1974

  • Extended loan for use by the Ambassador, U.S. Embassy residence, East Berlin, East Germany, 1974-1977.

1978

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

  • The Animal Kingdom in Art, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York, 1978.

1980

  • Small Folk: A Celebration of Childhood in America, organized by Museum of American Folk Art, NGA loans shown at The New-York Historical Society, New York, 1980-1981, 129, no. 235, color repro. (cat. by Sandra Brant and Elissa Cullman).

1981

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, 1981-1982, no. 2, color repro. on frontispiece (cat. by Ronald McKnight Melvin).

1985

  • American Naive Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, traveling exh. by the International Exhibitions Foundation, Washington, 1985-1987, no. 4, 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. 4, repro.

2012

  • Deacon Peckham's Hobby Horse, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2012, digital brochure, no. 9, repro.

Bibliography

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 136, repro.

1979

  • Johnson, Dale. "Deacon Robert Peckham: Delineator of the `Human Face Divine'." The American Art Journal 10 (January 1979): 31-33, 35-36.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 277, repro.

1988

  • Luckey, Laura. "The Portraits of Robert Peckham." Antiques 134 (September 1988): 552-557.

1990

  • Garrett, Elisabeth Donaghy. At Home: The American Family 1750-1870. New York, 1990: repro. 54.

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: 493-495, color repro. 494.

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 404, repro.

2012

  • Parker, Lonnae O'Neal. "A 30-Year Ride on a Hobby Horse." The Washington Post 135, no. 230 (22 July 2012): E1, E6, color repro.

Inscriptions

on newspaper: Dai[ly]

Wikidata ID

Q20186691

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