
With his wide eyes, flushed cheeks, and curls, this young fellow evokes an ideal of boyhood. Childhood in the nineteenth century was seen as a too-brief stage in life, much like the fleeting moment the artist caught in this image. Boys were encouraged to exert themselves outdoors, with fishing, sledding, swimming, and ball games. An active life taught young boys to be competitive and tough, and helped them to grow into confident and successful men, a role that was not as far off as the boys might have imagined. (Mintz, Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood, 2004).
- Title
-
Boy with a Fishing Pole
- Artist
- Date
- ca. 1840
- Location
- Dimensions
- 27 1⁄8 x 21 5⁄8 in. (69 x 55 cm.)
- Credit Line
-
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Gift of William Boswell in memory of H. Curley Boswell
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- oil on canvas
- Classifications
- Keywords
-
- Portrait male – unidentified – waist length
- Recreation – sport and play – fishing
- Object Number
-
1973.152.2
- Palette
- Linked Open Data
- Linked Open Data URI