Caught Napping (Boys Caught Napping in a Field)

William Sidney Mount

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

American Art

Title

Caught Napping (Boys Caught Napping in a Field)

Date

1848

Medium

Oil on canvas

Classification

Painting

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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