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Exhibition History“Exhibition of Drawings and Paintings by William Sidney Mount 1807 – 1868,” Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, January 23 – March 8, 1942, cat. no. 49.
“Mount and His Circle,” Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, January 1 – December 31, 1945, cat. no. 10.
“Hudson River School and Related Paintings,” Union College Art Gallery, Schenectady, NY, December 19, 1952 – January 30, 1953, no cat.
“Untitled,” Museum of Art of Ogunquit, Ogunquit, ME, June 1 – September 30, 1960, no cat.
“American 19th Century Painting, Michigan State University,” MI, January 30, 1966 - February 22, 1966.
“Painter of Rural America, William Sidney Mount, 1807 – 1868,” National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., November 23, 1968 – January 5, 1969; City Art Museum of St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, January 18 – February 15, 1969; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, March 3 – April 15, 1969; M. H. de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA, May 1 – May 31, 1969, cat. no. 20.
“Art and the Excited Spirit: America in the Romantic Period,” University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI, March 1, 1972 - April 30, 1972.
“William Sidney Mount: Painter of American Life,” New York Historical Society, New York, NY, August 14 – October 25, 1998; The Frick Art Museum, New York, NY, November 19, 1998 – January 10, 1999, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX, February 5 – April 4, 1999, no cat. no.
“William Sidney Mount: Painter of American Life,” New York History Society, New York, NY, August 14, 1998 - October 25, 1998; The Frick, New York, NY, February 5, 1999 - April 4, 1999; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX, November 19, 1998 - January 10, 1999.
“American Treasures from the Fenimore Art Museum,” The Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL, February 20 – April 11, 2004, no cat.
“Art of the Everyman: American Folk Art from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, CT, May 28 – September 29, 2014, no cat.
“Perfect Harmony: The Musical Art and Life of William Sydney Mount,” Fenimore Art Museum, May 25, 2019 - September 8, 2019.
BibliographyCatalogue of an Exhibition of Drawings and Paintings by William Sidney Mount 1807 – 1868 (exh. cat. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum, 1942), p. 20, cat. no. 49.
Cowdrey, Bartlett and Williams, Hermann Warner, Jr., William Sidney Mount 1807 – 1868 an American Painter (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1944), pp. xii, 19, fig. 32, cat. no. 35, ill.
William Sidney Mount and his Circle an Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by William Sidney Mount with a group of works by his Friends and Contemporaries (exh. cat. New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1945), n.p., cat. no. 10.
“William Sidney Mount Painter Made Long Island his Italy,” in Life Magazine (June 25, 1945), p. 66, ill.
McCausland, Elizabeth, “Mount and the Golden Day,” in American Collector, Vol. 14, no. 2 (March 1945), p. 7, ill.
Frankenstein, Alfred, Painter of Rural America: William Sidney Mount 1807 – 1868 (exh. cat. Stony Brook, NY: The Suffolk County Museum, 1968), pp. 32, 33, cat. no. 20, ill.
Huntington, David Carew, Molnar, Edward R. and Robert Yassin, Art and the Excited Spirit America in the Romantic Period (exh. cat. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1972), pp. 23, 39, cat. no. 106, pl. 81, ill.
Frankenstein, Alfred, William Sidney Mount (New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1975), n.p., fig. 19, ill.
Howard, Nancy Shroyer, William Sidney Mount Painter of Rural America (Worcester, MA: Davis Publications, Inc, 1994), pp. 10, 11, ill.
Johnson, Deborah J. et al, William Sidney Mount Painter of American Life (exh. cat. New York, NY: The American Federation of the Arts, 1998), pp. 55, 56, 101nn124, 117, 131, 150, fig. 47, ill.
Mazow, Leo G., “Sensing America,” in American Art: Smithsonian American Museum, Vol. 24, no. 3 (Fall 2010), pp. 2, 3, fig. 1, ill.
Artist
William Sidney Mount
(1807 - 1868)
Ringing the Pig
Date1842
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsSight: 25 1/16 × 30 1/4 in. (63.7 × 76.8 cm)
Object numberN0406.1955
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextMore than any other artist, William Sidney Mount brought genre painting to public attention and popularity. His depictions of rural life, particularly its comic side, equal or surpass other artists. Having studied the Old Master collection at the American Academy and taken classes at the National Academy of Design, Mount was well-grounded
in European artistic traditions. It is his subject matter, the rural life of Setauket and Stony Brook, Long Island, which gives Mount a provincial-seeming character. As one of the earliest American genre painters, Mount's technique and talent offered an important example for future genre painters.
This scene is an accurate representation of the method for putting a ring
in a pig's nose, a measure used to keep the animal from digging under fences. Mount achieves strikingly realistic poses and gestures, particularly in the face of the pig in the background at the right. This painting also evokes sound, as one can clearly imagine the high-pitched squeal of the pig in the foreground.Exhibition History“Exhibition of Drawings and Paintings by William Sidney Mount 1807 – 1868,” Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, January 23 – March 8, 1942, cat. no. 49.
“Mount and His Circle,” Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, January 1 – December 31, 1945, cat. no. 10.
“Hudson River School and Related Paintings,” Union College Art Gallery, Schenectady, NY, December 19, 1952 – January 30, 1953, no cat.
“Untitled,” Museum of Art of Ogunquit, Ogunquit, ME, June 1 – September 30, 1960, no cat.
“American 19th Century Painting, Michigan State University,” MI, January 30, 1966 - February 22, 1966.
“Painter of Rural America, William Sidney Mount, 1807 – 1868,” National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., November 23, 1968 – January 5, 1969; City Art Museum of St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, January 18 – February 15, 1969; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, March 3 – April 15, 1969; M. H. de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA, May 1 – May 31, 1969, cat. no. 20.
“Art and the Excited Spirit: America in the Romantic Period,” University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI, March 1, 1972 - April 30, 1972.
“William Sidney Mount: Painter of American Life,” New York Historical Society, New York, NY, August 14 – October 25, 1998; The Frick Art Museum, New York, NY, November 19, 1998 – January 10, 1999, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX, February 5 – April 4, 1999, no cat. no.
“William Sidney Mount: Painter of American Life,” New York History Society, New York, NY, August 14, 1998 - October 25, 1998; The Frick, New York, NY, February 5, 1999 - April 4, 1999; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX, November 19, 1998 - January 10, 1999.
“American Treasures from the Fenimore Art Museum,” The Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL, February 20 – April 11, 2004, no cat.
“Art of the Everyman: American Folk Art from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, CT, May 28 – September 29, 2014, no cat.
“Perfect Harmony: The Musical Art and Life of William Sydney Mount,” Fenimore Art Museum, May 25, 2019 - September 8, 2019.
BibliographyCatalogue of an Exhibition of Drawings and Paintings by William Sidney Mount 1807 – 1868 (exh. cat. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum, 1942), p. 20, cat. no. 49.
Cowdrey, Bartlett and Williams, Hermann Warner, Jr., William Sidney Mount 1807 – 1868 an American Painter (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1944), pp. xii, 19, fig. 32, cat. no. 35, ill.
William Sidney Mount and his Circle an Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings by William Sidney Mount with a group of works by his Friends and Contemporaries (exh. cat. New York, NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1945), n.p., cat. no. 10.
“William Sidney Mount Painter Made Long Island his Italy,” in Life Magazine (June 25, 1945), p. 66, ill.
McCausland, Elizabeth, “Mount and the Golden Day,” in American Collector, Vol. 14, no. 2 (March 1945), p. 7, ill.
Frankenstein, Alfred, Painter of Rural America: William Sidney Mount 1807 – 1868 (exh. cat. Stony Brook, NY: The Suffolk County Museum, 1968), pp. 32, 33, cat. no. 20, ill.
Huntington, David Carew, Molnar, Edward R. and Robert Yassin, Art and the Excited Spirit America in the Romantic Period (exh. cat. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1972), pp. 23, 39, cat. no. 106, pl. 81, ill.
Frankenstein, Alfred, William Sidney Mount (New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1975), n.p., fig. 19, ill.
Howard, Nancy Shroyer, William Sidney Mount Painter of Rural America (Worcester, MA: Davis Publications, Inc, 1994), pp. 10, 11, ill.
Johnson, Deborah J. et al, William Sidney Mount Painter of American Life (exh. cat. New York, NY: The American Federation of the Arts, 1998), pp. 55, 56, 101nn124, 117, 131, 150, fig. 47, ill.
Mazow, Leo G., “Sensing America,” in American Art: Smithsonian American Museum, Vol. 24, no. 3 (Fall 2010), pp. 2, 3, fig. 1, ill.
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