Artwork
Boys Fishing
Boys Fishing is an oil painting by the Hudson River School artist Thomas Le Clear. It dates from 1846 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Created by Thomas Le Clear in 1846, the work captures a moment of youthful leisure and outdoor activity.
The painting depicts a scene of two boys engaged in the act of fishing. Created by Thomas Le Clear in 1846, the work captures a moment of youthful leisure and outdoor activity. While the title explicitly identifies the subjects and their action, the provided sources do not elaborate on specific symbolic meanings, deeper iconography, or broader representational themes beyond the literal depiction of the boys fishing.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1846, Boys Fishing is an oil painting created by Thomas Le Clear. The work utilizes oil paint applied to a canvas support, a standard combination for mid-19th-century American easel painting. Produced in New York, the piece falls within the classification of painting and represents the artist's output during this period.
The specific handling of the brushwork, current condition of the surface, and detailed formal stylistic qualities are not described in the available records, though the material composition is firmly established as oil on canvas.
History & Provenance
Thomas Le Clear executed the oil painting Boys Fishing in 1846. The work was produced in New York using oil paint applied to a canvas support. Following its creation, the piece entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it remains housed.
The painting is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where it is inventoried as Boys Fishing (accession 2005.139).
It was included in the exhibition "The Poetry of Everyday Life: Dutch Genre Prints and Drawings from the Permanent Collection" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on view from October 19, 2005, to February 5, 2006.
Overview
Thomas Le Clear’s 1846 oil on canvas, titled Boys Fishing, is part of the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work portrays three youths absorbed in a leisurely fishing outing beside a waterway, framed by a stand of trees. The composition conveys a quiet, shared pastime set within a natural landscape.
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