Art versus Law
David Gilmour Blythe
American Art
On View:
According to its first owner, who acquired the work from David Gilmour Blythe, Art versus Law “portray[ed] a true incident in the life of the artist.” Blythe showed himself arriving, canvases and brushes in hand, at the door to the attic studio on which he owed rent, only to find it padlocked by his landlord and posted “TO LET. ON GOOD SECURITY.” The artist, clearly lacking any “security,” is dressed in tattered clothes and worn boots. On the barrel to his right and in the wood box at the left are broken and empty bottles, which suggest the cause of Blythe’s distressed situation.
MEDIUM
Oil on canvas
DATES
1859–1860
DIMENSIONS
frame: 33 × 29 × 2 in. (83.8 × 73.7 × 5.1 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
Signed lower left: "Blythe"
COLLECTIONS
American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
40.907
CREDIT LINE
Dick S. Ramsay Fund
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
David Gilmour Blythe (American, 1815–1865). Art versus Law, 1859–1860. Oil on canvas, frame: 33 × 29 × 2 in. (83.8 × 73.7 × 5.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 40.907 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 40.907_SL1.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 40.907_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
No known copyright restrictions
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