Monarch of the Farm

Media - 1921.1.3 - SAAM-1921.1.3_1 - 263
Copied William H. Howe, Monarch of the Farm, 1891, oil on canvas, 36 1⁄2 x 49 1⁄8 in. (92.6 x 124.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. William Henry Howe, 1921.1.3
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Monarch of the Farm
Artist
Date
1891
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
36 1⁄2 x 49 1⁄8 in. (92.6 x 124.9 cm)
Markings
lower left in oil: William H Howe 91
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. William Henry Howe
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Keywords
  • Animal
  • Architecture — farm — barn
  • Animal — cattle
Object Number
1921.1.3
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1921.1.3

Artwork Description

William Henry Howe made a name for himself in France and the United States as a painter of animals. His farm scenes provided patrons with an antidote to the unnerving changes in American society brought about by industrialization. The prize bull and placid cow in these paintings evoke the patriarchal and matriarchal roles of a nineteenth-century household, and hark back to an ideal of agrarian America that seemed distant from the urban bustle of the Gilded Age.