Young boys have been a traditional staples of genre painting. To patrons of art during the mid-nineteenth century these youths recalled memories of their own growing years in which innocence was becoming more and more modified by mischievous cunning. —PH
MacGibeny, 2021: The January 1907 American Art Association sale catalogue description, dimensions, and date of this painting are identical to those of The Early Scholar, no. 113 in the catalogue of the February 1907 sale of Johnson's estate. However, they are different paintings, as evidenced by their differing inscriptions and provenance.
American Art Association sale catalogue, January 11, 1907: "Seated in an old-fashioned rocking chair, his feet upon the hearth of an air-tight stove, is a small lad who, having put aside his mittens, is endeavoring to warm his stiffened fingers. His duty has evidently been to light the fire in the schoolroom, and behind the stove is the simple wooden desk of the master, and on the right are the seats and desks of the pupils. Split birch logs are lying on the floor near the stove, on the bench behind the boy are his two school books, and underneath it his tin dinner pail."
- Subject matter:
- Stoves »