William Rush (American, 1756–1833). Winter, 1810. Pine, 28 1/16 x 21 x 9in. (71.3 x 53.3 x 22.9cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund , 42.242. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 42.242_view1_PS2.jpg)
William Rush (American, 1756–1833). Winter, 1810. Pine, 28 1/16 x 21 x 9in. (71.3 x 53.3 x 22.9cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund , 42.242. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 42.242_view2_PS2.jpg)
Winter
William Rush
American Art
On View:
This statue of a shivering child personifies the winter season and was once part of an outdoor decorative scheme for an icehouse on a Philadelphia estate.
Like many solid wood sculptures, it exhibits radial cracking, most notably on the back. This type of cracking runs perpendicular to the tree’s growth rings. It occurs because wood can absorb and lose moisture, and has distinct physical properties along its different planes of direction. As relative humidity or the amount of moisture in the air changes, the wood will expand and contract differently in these directions, leading to a buildup of stresses in the wood and eventual cracking.
Like many solid wood sculptures, it exhibits radial cracking, most notably on the back. This type of cracking runs perpendicular to the tree’s growth rings. It occurs because wood can absorb and lose moisture, and has distinct physical properties along its different planes of direction. As relative humidity or the amount of moisture in the air changes, the wood will expand and contract differently in these directions, leading to a buildup of stresses in the wood and eventual cracking.
MEDIUM
Pine
DATES
1810
DIMENSIONS
28 1/16 x 21 x 9in. (71.3 x 53.3 x 22.9cm) (show scale)
COLLECTIONS
American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
42.242
CREDIT LINE
Dick S. Ramsay Fund
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Carved statue of a seated child wrapped in a cloak; figure huddles with cold and turns slightly to the proper right; holds cloak below neck with crossed arms; some curly hair peeks out from under the hood; proper right leg is bare and crossed over the covered proper left leg; figure seated on round base that looks like a rock.
Condition: Good, some cracks throughout the sculpture.
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
William Rush (American, 1756–1833). Winter, 1810. Pine, 28 1/16 x 21 x 9in. (71.3 x 53.3 x 22.9cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund
, 42.242. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 42.242_view1_PS2.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 42.242_view1_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2007
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply.
Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply).
For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch.
For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright.
If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
