Caught Napping (Boys Caught Napping in a Field)
William Sidney Mount
American Art
This humorous narrative of lazy boys about to be punished was commissioned by George Washington Strong to illustrate a memory of his rural Long Island childhood. The artist shows that these country boys have been mischievous by playing cards and napping instead of working. The potential hazards of their indolence are suggested by a goat’s skull symbolizing death (affixed to a tree above them) and by the switch carried by their father.
MEDIUM
Oil on canvas
DATES
1848
DIMENSIONS
29 1/16 x 36 1/8 in. (73.8 x 91.7 cm)
frame: 44 1/16 x 51 1/8 x 5 3/4 in. (111.9 x 129.9 x 14.6 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
Signed lower left: "Wm. S. MONNT [sic] / 1848"
COLLECTIONS
American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
39.608
CREDIT LINE
Dick S. Ramsay Fund
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
William Sidney Mount (American, 1807â1868). Caught Napping (Boys Caught Napping in a Field), 1848. Oil on canvas, 29 1/16 x 36 1/8 in. (73.8 x 91.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 39.608 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 39.608_SL1.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 39.608_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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