Beschreibung:

Childe Hassam American, 1859-1935 Haywagon in the Countryside Signed Childe Hassam (ll) Oil on canvas 21 1/4 x 25 1/4 inches Unframed This rural scene by Childe Hassam is painted in the umbrous tones frequently associated with the Barbizon School. Dating from around 1884-1885, it is consistent in theme with works executed after the artist's first trip abroad in 1883, while he was living and working once again in his native Boston. It was only after his second trip abroad that Hassam adopted a brighter palette and more impressionistic approach to painting. The crisp signature, with the terminal vertical stroke of the "m" extending downward, is also consistent with that employed by Hassam in this early phase of his career. The piece relates to a number of other of thickly painted compositions from 1884 and 1885 that are generally considered American, not French, which depict pastoral landscapes and farm scenes, some including hay stacks, or, like the present work, a wagon traversing a country road. Among these are an 1884 Landscape (Collection Mead Art Museum, Amherst), and A Back Road (Brooklyn Museum of Art). We are grateful to Kathleen Burnside for her kind assistance in cataloguing this work.
Scattered craquelure. Canvas is stiff and buckled; painted on the reverse. Splits along canvas overlap. Thick grime layer. May be unvarnished - surface is dull. Cracquelure and paint lifting throughout. 1-inch tear in the lower right quadrant. 1/2-inch puncture at upper center in sky; 1 1/2-inch split at left edge by stretcher. Scattered paint loss throughout, including a 1-inch loss at upper left edge, a 1 x 2-inch loss at left center edge, and a 3/4-inch loss located 4 1/2-inches above lower edge at center. Painted on jute canvas on a mortice/tenon stretcher.