The Finish

c. 1860

American 19th Century

Associated Names
American 19th Century
Artist
The artwork shows a horse race scene from a slightly elevated point of view. Closest to us, a crowd of well-dressed spectators, including men and a few women, gather along a dirt track. Two horse-drawn sulkies, one led by a brown horse and the other by a gray horse, are racing past the crowd. A small, two-story pavilion with a U.S. flag on top is beyond the track, with several people observing the race from its balcony. In the distance, the landscape features green fields with scattered trees and grazing cattle. Further back, a river with sailboats winds across the horizon, set against a backdrop of rolling hills under a partly cloudy sky. The style is detailed and realistic, capturing the colors and atmosphere of the event.

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Recorded as from Rhode Island. Mrs. Lunsford P. Yandell, Greenwich, Connecticut, who gave it in the late 1920s or early 1930s to her daughter, Mrs. John W. Hanes [Hope Yandell Hanes], New York. Sold by Mrs. Hanes in 1964 to (Wildenstein and Company, New York), by whom sold in 1964 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch;[1] by bequest to NGA, 1980.

[1] Hope Yandell Hanes, letter of 23 February 1987, in NGA curatorial files, details the Yandell family provenance in this way. She states that her mother found the painting in the Boston area, but Wildenstein recorded that it was found in Rhode Island. E.J. Rousuck, vice president, Wildenstein and Company, letter to the Garbisches of 15 February 1955, in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

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. 84. First venue: Grand Palais, Paris.

Bibliography

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 401, repro.

  • 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: 476-478, color repro. 477.

Inscriptions

on judges stand: 2-6; on newspaper of fifth man at lower left:BOSTON HERALD

Wikidata ID

Q20188418