Leisure Hours

Details

William Sidney Mount (1807-1868)
Leisure Hours
signed and dated 'Wm. S. Mount./1834.' (lower left)
oil on panel
11 x 8 7/8 in. (27.9 x 22.5 cm.)
Painted in 1834.

Provenance

The artist.
Benjamin Franklin Thompson, Long Island, New York, gift from the above, 1840.
J.T. Vanderhoof, Esq.
Miss Louise Ockers, Oakdale, Long Island, New York, by 1944.
Mrs. Grace M. Walker, Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts.
Kennedy Galleries, Inc., New York.
Acquired by the late owners from the above, 1971.

Literature

The Artist's Catalogue of Paintings, 1834, p. 9 (as A boy sitting on a bannister of a stoop with a book in his hand).
"Miscellaneous Notices," The American Monthly Magazine, vol. III, New York, 1834, p. 210.
C.J. Werner, "William S. Mount and His Art," Historic Miscellanies Relating to Long Island, Huntington, New York, 1917, p. 41 (as Boy Sitting with a Book in His Hands, Surrounded by Flowers).
M.B. Cowdrey, H.W. Williams, Jr., William Sidney Mount, 1807-1868: An American Painter, New York, 1944, pp. xi, 15-16, no. 18, fig. 19, illustrated.
A. Frankenstein, William Sidney Mount, New York, 1975, pp. 102-03, 469, 483, pl. 40, illustrated.

Exhibited

New York, National Academy of Design, 9th Annual Exhibition, April 25-July 5, 1834, no. 50 (as Boy on the Fence).
Stony Brook, New York, Suffolk Museum at Stony Brook, A Loan Exhibition of Paintings, Sketches, Manuscripts, Memorabilia: Henry Smith Mount, A.N.A., 1802-1841, Shepard Alonzo Mount, N.A., 1804-1868, William Sidney Mount, N.A., 1807-1868, August 23-September 28, 1947, p. 44, no. 63.
New York, Kennedy Galleries, Inc., American Masters: 18th to 20th Centuries, March 10-April 3, 1971, p. 20, no. 17, illustrated.
Chattanooga, Tennessee, Hunter Museum of American Art, The Alice E. and Joseph H. Davenport, Jr. Collection, April 10-June 7, 2015.

Lot Essay

In a letter dated December 5, 1840 to Benjamin Franklin Thompson, a lawyer and political leader on Long Island and a noted historian of Long Island history, William Sidney Mount wrote of the present work, "I presume you recollect the picture you admired so much in my studio, a Boy sitting with a book in his hands and surrounded by flowers. If you will accept it as a token of esteem and friendship from the Artist you are welcome to it. I value it as a sketch highly. I will send it to you the first opportunity." (as quoted in A. Frankenstein, William Sidney Mount, New York, 1975, p. 102)

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