Collections: Decorative Arts: Joe's Farewell

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Joe's Farewell

• Artist: Daniel Chester French, American, 1850-1931
• Medium: Unglazed porcelain
• Place Manufactured: England
• Dates: Designed 1872-1873
• Dimensions: 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 x 5 9/16 in. (24.1 x 19.1 x 14.1 cm)
• Markings: On front of base, cast incised: "DOLLY VARDEN AND JOE WILLETT / JOE'S FAREWELL"
• Signature: Incised on rear of base, right: "D.C. FRENCH"
• Collections: Decorative Arts
• Museum Location: This item is on view in Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th Floor
• Accession Number: 1995.98.1
• Credit Line: Gift of Benno Bordiga, by exchange
• Image: Overall, 1995.98.1_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2006
Daniel Chester French (American, 1850-1931). Joe's Farewell, Designed 1872-1873. Unglazed porcelain, 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 x 5 9/16 in. (24.1 x 19.1 x 14.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Benno Bordiga, by exchange, 1995.98.1 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1995.98.1_PS1.jpg)
• Catalogue Description: Realistically rendered figural group based on "Barnaby Rudge" by Charles Dickens (published in England in 1841). Stepped oval base, the top of which is modeled as a tile floor on an incline. Two figures in 18th-century clothing in foreground: at left, a woman with head cast downward and fretting the bottom edge of her apron in her hands, at left, a young man holding his cap at his chest with proper right hand and his proper left hand behind his back. The couple stands in front of a blacksmith's fireplace with a firebox at table height and tools in the fire; above this on the chimney, keys and padlocks are hung and on the shelf on the left side of the chimney is a Toby jug. Left of the fireplace is a stump with an anvil and hammer on it. On the floor are padlocks, a hammer and a traveler's bundle. Condition: Handle of hammer on floor and handle of traveler's bundle missing. Blind crack runs from rear right base through center of base, with a small chip on corner of base at this crack. Fine horizontal crack on female proper right angle. Crack along proper right side of male neck, filled with a resin.