Man Sleeping in a Rowboat (from Sketchbook)
ca. 1838 and after
Medium
Graphite on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
6 5/8 x 8 in. (16.8 x 20.3 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Sheila and Richard J. Schwartz Fund, 1987
Accession Number
1987.196.3ii
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the tranquil sketch *Man Sleeping in a Row (from Sketchbook)*, American artist Francis William Edmonds a moment of serene repose around 1838 or later. Drawn in graphite on off-white w paper, this intimate 6⅝ × 8-inch study from his sketchbook exemplifies Edmonds's keen eye for everyday life. A modest banker and engraver by trade, Edmonds was a founding member of the National Academy Design, blending meticulous draftsmanship with a gentle humor inspired by 17th-century Dutch genre. The scene depicts a lone man dozing peacefully in a rowboat, his relaxed form rendered with soft, fluid graphi...
About the Artist
Francis William Edmonds · 1806–1863
Francis William Edmonds, born on November 22, 1806, in Hudson, New York, into a prominent Quaker family as the seventh child of storekeeper and public servant Samuel Edmonds and Lydia Worth Edmonds, displayed remarkable artistic talent from youth. After Quaker schooling and farm work, he entered banking in 1823 as a clerk at the Tradesmen's Bank in New York City under his uncle Gorham Worth, a pat...