Who painted Summer Flowers?

Summer Flowers was painted by Jerome Thompson in 1859.

Where can I see Summer Flowers?

Summer Flowers is held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

What movement is Summer Flowers?

Summer Flowers is associated with American Folk Art.

Summer Flowers by Jerome Thompson (1859) · Meaning & Museum

Accession no.: 1984.252.1
Credit line: Gift of Madeleine T. Edmonds, 1984

About this work

A boy in a straw hat leans on a fence with a bunch of wildflowers. Behind him, two girls sit on a grassy hill while a couple walks toward a white farmhouse. Thompson painted it in 1859, skipping grand history for a quiet summer afternoon you could almost step into.

Subject & Meaning

Thompson portrays a domestic landscape that includes a child, a house, a man, a woman, and a tree within a broader landscape setting.

Summer Flowers (1859) by Jerome B. Thompson portrays a domestic landscape that includes a child, a house, a man, a woman, and a tree within a broader landscape setting. Executed in oil on canvas and measuring approximately 91.4 × 59.7 cm, the work is classified as a landscape painting and belongs to The American Wing's collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The depicted elements, child, house, man, woman, and tree, suggest a narrative of family life and seasonal abundance associated with summer, reflecting the everyday scenes valued in mid-nineteenth-century American art.

Technique & Style

Summer Flowers is an oil-on-canvas work measuring roughly 91 × 59 cm, reflecting the standard support employed by 19th-century American landscape painters. The painting depicts a domestic scene that includes a child, a man, a woman, a house, and a tree within a verdant setting, a composition typical of Jerome B. Thompson's romantic pastoral style. The use of oil paint on canvas allows for rich tonal modulation and subtle atmospheric effects characteristic of the genre. These formal qualities align with the work's classification as a landscape within The American Wing collection.

History & Provenance

Summer Flowers is an 1859 oil on canvas by Jerome B. Thompson, measuring 91.4 × 59.7 cm. It is held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is classified within The American Wing as a landscape painting. The work depicts a domestic scene with a child, a man, a woman, a house, and a tree set in a broader landscape. No earlier ownership, commission details, or accession number are documented in the available sources.

Overview

Summer Flowers is an oil on canvas painting from 1859. It captures a serene rural moment, characteristic of American genre painting. The composition features a young boy holding wildflowers, with additional figures and a farmhouse in the background, all illuminated by the soft light of a summer afternoon.

This work presents an unassuming scene, contrasting with the more dramatic and heroic subjects often favored in art during that era.

Context

Created in 1859, "Summer Flowers" emerged during a period when many artists still focused on large-scale historical narratives and allegories. Thompson's decision to render a modest, undramatic scene of rural life marked a departure from these established conventions. This focus on the commonplace and the specific qualities of light and atmosphere aligned with an evolving artistic sensibility that increasingly valued direct observation and the depiction of contemporary American experience.