Lot 42
42
VARIOUS PROPERTIES
James H. Cafferty* (1819-1869)

The Midday Rest

Details
James H. Cafferty* (1819-1869)
The Midday Rest
signed and dated 'J Cafferty 1858' lower right
oil on canvas
26 x 38½in. (66 x 97.7cm.)
Provenance
Private Collection, Cornwall, New York
Literature
D.S. Hull, James H. Cafferty, N.A., (1819-1869), New York, 1986, p. 31, no. 15, illus, p. 49, no. 99
Exhibited
New York, National Academy of Design, 1859, no. 718
New York, The New-York Historical Society, James Henry Caffertty, N.A. (1819-1869), 1986
New York, The New-York Historical Society, Art What Thou Eat: Images of Food in American Art, 1990-1991

Lot Essay

James Cafferty was esteemed for his portraits, especially those of fellow artists such as Jasper Francis Cropsey, and for his brilliantly colored depictions of childern placed in lush landscapes. This painting is one of "Cafferty's most ambitious--and most successful works." (D. S. Hull, James Henry Cafferty, p. 31) It continues the tradition of bucolic representations in American genre painting by artists such as George Henry Durrie, William Sidney Mount, and Jerome Thompson. The Midday Rest is one of a series of harvesting scenes Cafferty painted in 1858 and 1859 that may use his farm in New Jersey as their setting.