Caught Napping (Boys Caught Napping in a Field)

Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
This humorous narrative of lazy boys about to be punished was commissioned by George Washington Strong to illustrate a memory of his rural Long Island childhood. The artist shows that these country boys have been mischievous by playing cards and napping instead of working. The potential hazards of their indolence are suggested by a goat’s skull symbolizing death (affixed to a tree above them) and by the switch carried by their father.
Caption
William Sidney Mount (American, 1807–1868). Caught Napping (Boys Caught Napping in a Field), 1848. Oil on canvas, 29 1/16 x 36 1/8 in. (73.8 x 91.7 cm) frame: 44 1/16 x 51 1/8 x 5 3/4 in. (111.9 x 129.9 x 14.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 39.608. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Caught Napping (Boys Caught Napping in a Field)
Date
1848
Medium
Oil on canvas
Classification
Dimensions
29 1/16 x 36 1/8 in. (73.8 x 91.7 cm) frame: 44 1/16 x 51 1/8 x 5 3/4 in. (111.9 x 129.9 x 14.6 cm)
Signatures
Signed lower left: "Wm. S. MONNT [sic] / 1848"
Credit Line
Dick S. Ramsay Fund
Accession Number
39.608
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