Artwork
The Neigh of an Iron Horse
The Neigh of an Iron Horse is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Joseph Anderson Faris. It dates from 186 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower left: A Fari[s], 186[ ]
About this work
Technique & Style
The Neigh of an Iron Horse is an oil painting executed on canvas by Joseph Anderson Faris in 1860.
The Neigh of an Iron Horse is an oil painting executed on canvas by Joseph Anderson Faris in 1860. The work is classified as a painting and measures 35 by 45.4 centimeters. An inscription at the lower left of the canvas reads "A Fari[s], 186[ ]", with part of the final digit of the date obliterated by fill, leaving it uncertain whether the year ends in 0, 8, or 9.
The canvas bears evidence of physical intervention in the form of this fill over the inscription, indicating localized restoration or repair to that area of the support.
History & Provenance
The painting bears an inscription at the lower left reading "A Fari[s], 186[ ]," though the final digit of the date is obscured by fill, leaving it possibly as 0, 8, or 9. Despite this ambiguity, the work is canonically dated to 1860. The artwork remained within the artist's family until it entered the collection of the Oglebay Institute-Mansion Museum in Wheeling, West Virginia, where it stayed until 1959.
That year, Joseph A. Stevens of Wheeling sold the piece to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch. Upon their death, the Garbisches bequeathed the painting to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1980.
The Neigh of an Iron Horse is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
The painting descended in the family of Joseph Anderson Faris before entering the collection of the Oglebay Institute-Mansion Museum in Wheeling, West Virginia, where it remained until 1959. That year, Joseph A. Stevens of Wheeling sold it to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch. The work was bequeathed to the National Gallery of Art in 1980 through the generosity of Gwynn Garbisch McDevitt.
Overview
The Neigh of an Iron Horse, executed in oil on canvas by Joseph Anderson Faris, dates from the mid‑nineteenth century (circa 1860). The composition juxtaposes a rearing brown horse against a steam locomotive, set within an open landscape under a cloud‑dotted sky.
Subject & Meaning
At the centre of the work a brown horse lifts onto its hind legs, its mane and tail animated by a gust of wind. Behind it, a smoking train advances through a pastoral scene of trees and grass, suggesting a moment of tension between traditional agrarian life and emerging industrial power.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
