The Devil and Tom Walker
1856
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1856
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
The Devil and Tom Walker is a 1856 unspecified by John Quidor, a Impressionism work, depicting Hunting, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
The painting shows a man meeting the devil in a dark forest. This painting is interesting because it's based on a story by Washington Irving. The style is also unusual for American genre paintings, which are often more realistic. It's similar to the style of other artists who use chiaroscuro, a technique that uses strong contrasts of light and dark to create a sense of volume.
An eccentric and cantankerous man, John Quidor achieved fame in his lifetime for paintings of banners and fire engines, none of which survive. Today he is remembered for a series of fantastic, grotesque paintings based on the stories of Washington Irving (1783-1859)-a series whose exuberant style differs from the general run of American genre paintings, which tend to be more understated in mood and realistic in style. The Devil and Tom Walker belongs to this curious group of works. It portrays a scene from Irving's Tales of a Traveler (1824), in which Tom Walker, who was "not a man to be…
Read the full account in the museum source.
John Quidor (January 26, 1801 – December 13, 1881) was an American painter of historical and literary subjects.
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