Winter Scene in Brooklyn

Artist Francis Guy (1760 - 1820)

Date1820

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions58 × 106 in. (147.3 × 269.2 cm)
Framed: 67 × 113 1/4 × 3 1/4 in., 110 lb.

ClassificationsPainting

Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2006.98

Accession number 2006.98

On View

Not on view

ProvenanceEstate of the Artist, 1820. Samuel McLean [1820-1893], Brooklyn, NY; given to Brooklyn Club, New York, NY, 1889; purchased by Richard A. Manoogian [b.1936], Detroit, MI, 1983; purchased by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2006
Label TextFrancis Guy found artistic inspiration in the daily activity of his Brooklyn neighborhood. Here, he depicted specific buildings, people, and even animals as seen from the window of his second-floor residence. Guy paid close attention to the diversity of the neighborhood and how each person contributed to the character of the place, whether socializing, slipping on ice, or cutting wood. A large concentration of Brooklyn’s free African American population lived near this very intersection, where Fulton and James Streets meet Front Street, now located under the Brooklyn Bridge.

Guy encontró inspiración artística en la vida cotidiana de su vecindario en Brooklyn. Aquí representa edificios específicos, personas y hasta animales, según vistos desde la ventana de su residencia, ubicada en un segundo piso. Guy prestó mucha atención a la diversidad del vecindario, y cómo cada persona contribuía a la personalidad del lugar, ya fuese socializando, resbalando sobre el hielo o cortando madera. Gran parte de la población africano-americana libre de Brooklyn vivía cerca de esta misma intersección, donde las calles Fulton y James se encuentran con la Calle Front, ahora localizadas debajo del Puente de Brooklyn.

Inscribedl.c.: To been seen / a View / of / Brooklyn / by / Guy