Copy after Thomas Cole's "Dream of Arcadia"
Robert Seldon Duncanson
American Art
The African American painter Robert S. Duncanson was a leading practitioner of the Hudson River School of landscape painting. Dream of Arcadia is based on an 1838 painting by the school’s “founding father,” Thomas Cole. It typifies the style in its naturalistic details and romanticized vision of nature as symbolic of America’s national destiny. Its subject—the classical paradise of Arcadia—perhaps reflects hopes for a world free of the prejudice and strife of pre–Civil War America.
Duncanson settled in the Cincinnati area in about 1841. Cincinnati was then a hotbed of abolitionist activity, and home to a large population of free African Americans.
Duncanson settled in the Cincinnati area in about 1841. Cincinnati was then a hotbed of abolitionist activity, and home to a large population of free African Americans.
MEDIUM
Oil on canvas
DATES
1852
DIMENSIONS
frame: 34 1/8 x 52 x 4 in. (86.7 x 132.1 x 10.2 cm)
24 x 42 in. (61 x 106.7 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
Signed and dated lower center
COLLECTIONS
American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
2020.13.1
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Charlynn and Warren Goins
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Robert Seldon Duncanson (American, 1821-1872). Copy after Thomas Cole's "Dream of Arcadia," 1852. Oil on canvas, frame: 34 1/8 x 52 x 4 in. (86.7 x 132.1 x 10.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Charlynn and Warren Goins, 2020.13.1 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2020.13.1_PS22.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 2020.13.1_PS22.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2024
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
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