Musterungstag

Amerikanische Malerei 1840–1848, 1843 oder nach

Approximately two dozen people gather around a man standing with his mouth wide open and holding up two objects in a scarlet-red structure on a horse-drawn cart in this horizontal painting. The people appear to all have pale skin and most are men. Near the center of the composition, the man in the cart wears a white robe over a black, high-collared garment and a tall charcoal-gray hat. A hatch on the red structure appears to be open, and he holds up what might be books or pamphlets. A ginger-brown horse stands behind him with its head bowed. In the crowd, the men wear black, brown, gray, dark blue, or olive-green clothing and hats. Two women are to the left. One wears a green gown with a pumpkin-orange shawl and a wide-brimmed bonnet. She faces away from us. She and two men talk near a stand where another man and woman sell food and drink. More people gather around a second stand or structure beyond this, and, in the lower left corner of the painting, a man with white hair and a hooked nose and chin sits by an open cart with a sign reading, “Bear O! Pi Aiggs.” A few men dance and others mill about to the right of the cart. Closer to us, one boy runs toward another as a soldier lies belly-down on the ground, holding a bayoneted rifle out toward a brown dog. The dog crouches with its mouth open. Beyond the dancers and onlookers, a field stretches back to wooded hills. In the field, more than a hundred people stand or march in lines. Lavender-tinged clouds pile up in the blue sky over the horizon, which comes about halfway up this composition.
Künstler
Amerikanische Malerei 1840–1848
Datierung
1843 oder nach
Gattung
Gemälde
Technik
Öl auf Leinwand
Maße
55,9 × 83,9 cm
Sammlung
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Lizenz
Gemeinfrei, CC0

Bildbeschreibung

Approximately two dozen people gather around a man standing with his mouth wide open and holding up two objects in a scarlet-red structure on a horse-drawn cart in this horizontal painting. The people appear to all have pale skin and most are men. Near the center of the composition, the man in the cart wears a white robe over a black, high-collared garment and a tall charcoal-gray hat. A hatch on the red structure appears to be open, and he holds up what might be books or pamphlets. A ginger-brown horse stands behind him with its head bowed. In the crowd, the men wear black, brown, gray, dark blue, or olive-green clothing and hats. Two women are to the left. One wears a green gown with a pumpkin-orange shawl and a wide-brimmed bonnet. She faces away from us. She and two men talk near a stand where another man and woman sell food and drink. More people gather around a second stand or structure beyond this, and, in the lower left corner of the painting, a man with white hair and a hooked nose and chin sits by an open cart with a sign reading, “Bear O! Pi Aiggs.” A few men dance and others mill about to the right of the cart. Closer to us, one boy runs toward another as a soldier lies belly-down on the ground, holding a bayoneted rifle out toward a brown dog. The dog crouches with its mouth open. Beyond the dancers and onlookers, a field stretches back to wooded hills. In the field, more than a hundred people stand or march in lines. Lavender-tinged clouds pile up in the blue sky over the horizon, which comes about halfway up this composition.

Amerikanische Malerei 1840–1848