Boy with a Fishing Pole

Media - 1973.152.2 - SAAM-1973.152.2_1 - 4475
Copied Unidentified, Boy with a Fishing Pole, ca. 1840, oil on canvas, 27 1821 58 in. (6955 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of William Boswell in memory of H. Curley Boswell, 1973.152.2
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Boy with a Fishing Pole
Artist
Unidentified
Date
ca. 1840
Dimensions
27 1821 58 in. (6955 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of William Boswell in memory of H. Curley Boswell
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Keywords
  • Recreation — sport and play — fishing
  • Portrait male — unidentified — child
  • Portrait male — unidentified — waist length
Object Number
1973.152.2

Artwork Description

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).