Artwork
Rats amongst the Barley Sheaves
Rats amongst the Barley Sheaves is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Thomas Hewes Hinckley. It dates from 1851 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
You see two brown rats scurrying between golden barley sheaves while a terrier crouches, ears pricked, ready to pounce.
You see two brown rats scurrying between golden barley sheaves while a terrier crouches, ears pricked, ready to pounce.
Hinckley painted this in 1851, when most artists chose grand scenes or pretty landscapes. Instead, he picked rats, common, messy, and usually ignored. The terrier’s tense body tells you the chase is about to start, but the rats don’t even look scared. It’s a quiet, almost funny moment in farm life.
Look up other paintings of rats.
Subject & Meaning
Rats amongst the Barley Sheaves is a genre scene that centers on the small but disruptive presence of rats amid stored barley sheaves, with a dog included in the depicted cast. The pairing of rats and a dog within a grain setting establishes a narrative of pest and pursuer, a common pictorial device used to dramatize the everyday life of rural and agricultural settings. The barley sheaves situate the action in a harvest context, while the rats signal intrusion into the food supply, and the dog introduces the element of chase or guarding.
Together these motifs transform a mundane barnyard moment into a commentary on vigilance, survival, and the constant contest between humans, their domestic animals, and vermin over stored crops.
Technique & Style
Painted in 1851, Rats amongst the Barley Sheaves is an oil on canvas measuring 84.5 × 102.2 cm. The work is classified as a genre scene and belongs to the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The medium of oil paint on canvas support was standard for mid-19th-century American painting, allowing for detailed rendering of animals and narrative incident. The composition depicts rats and a dog, suggesting a naturalistic yet staged confrontation typical of period animal painting.
No specific information about the painting's handling, surface condition, or detailed stylistic approach beyond its genre classification and representational manner is provided in the sources.
History & Provenance
Rats amongst the Barley Sheaves is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it is classified within The American Wing. The painting, executed in oil on canvas in 1851, depicts a scene featuring rats and a dog. While the provided sources confirm its current location and institutional home, they do not specify a unique inventory or accession number for the work.
Furthermore, the available documentation does not record any specific exhibition history for this piece, leaving its display record outside the scope of the cited information.
Overview
Thomas Hewes Hinckley's 1851 oil on canvas, "Rats amongst the Barley Sheaves," presents a detailed genre scene. The painting captures a specific moment in rural life, featuring two rats navigating a field of barley while a terrier observes them intently. This work stands out from the prevalent artistic trends of its era, which often favored grand historical narratives or idealized landscapes. Hinckley instead chose to focus on an unassuming, everyday interaction from the natural world.
Context
Created in 1851, "Rats amongst the Barley Sheaves" represents a departure from the artistic conventions of its time. During an era when many artists pursued elevated subjects such as historical events or picturesque scenery, Hinckley chose to depict a less glamorous, yet equally authentic, aspect of existence. His focus on common creatures like rats, often overlooked or deemed insignificant, reflects an interest in the unvarnished realities of the natural world and everyday experience.
Artist & collection
