Collections: American Art: Coaching in New England

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Coaching in New England

The Brooklyn Museum’s collection of American watercolors was begun in 1906, when this work was acquired in a bequest from the Brooklyn collector Caroline H. Polhemus. Coaching in New England was the work of Albert Fitch Bellows, a practitioner and promoter of watercolor beginning in the late 1860s. To demonstrate that watercolor was as significant and as durable as oil painting, he deliberately produced large and highly finished “exhibition watercolors.” This quaint New England subject was among the most praised works in the 1877 annual exhibition of the American Watercolor Society.


• Artist: Albert Fitch Bellows, American, 1829-1883
• Medium: Transparent and opaque watercolor with touches of gum varnish over black chalk on cream, moderately thick, rough-textured wove paper
• Place Made: USA
• Dates: ca. 1876
• Dimensions: 24 7/8 x 35 7/8 in. (63.2 x 91.1cm) Frame: 29 5/8 x 40 1/2 x 2 1/2 in. (75.2 x 102.9 x 6.4 cm)
• Signature: Signed lower left: "A. F. Bellows"
• Collections: American Art
• Museum Location: This item is not on view
• Accession Number: 06.334
• Credit Line: Bequest of Caroline H. Polhemus
• Image: Overall, 06.334_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
Albert Fitch Bellows (American, 1829-1883). Coaching in New England, ca. 1876. Transparent and opaque watercolor with touches of gum varnish over black chalk on cream, moderately thick, rough-textured wove paper, 24 7/8 x 35 7/8 in. (63.2 x 91.1cm) Frame: 29 5/8 x 40 1/2 x 2 1/2 in. (75.2 x 102.9 x 6.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Caroline H. Polhemus, 06.334 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 06.334_SL1.jpg)