Jersey Meadows at Sunset

Copied Martin Johnson Heade, Jersey Meadows at Sunset, ca. 1866, oil on canvas, 14 1⁄4 x 30 1⁄4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, The May Family Collection, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2025.4

Artwork Details

Title
Jersey Meadows at Sunset
Artist
Date
ca. 1866
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
14 1⁄4 x 30 1⁄4 in.
Credit Line
The May Family Collection, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Architecture — bridge — footbridge
  • Landscape — time — evening
  • Landscape — marsh
  • Landscape — time — sunset
  • Landscape — New Jersey
  • Landscape — farm
  • Landscape — river
Object Number
2025.4
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2025.4

Artwork Description

Martin Johnson Heade began painting Jersey Meadows at Sunset shortly after the end of the Civil War. In it, a meandering stream and a series of haystacks stretch across low, flat marshes, and a lone man at right takes in a moment of rest. The war haunts this seemingly placid landscape: A broken haycart near the center of the foreground calls to mind an artillery mount for a small field cannon, while the rays of the setting sun, reaching upward from the horizon, conjure memories of explosions on a distant battlefield.