Rats amongst the Barley Sheaves
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
33 1/4 x 40 1/4 in. (84.5 x 102.2 cm)
Classification
Painting
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Erving Wolf Foundation, in memory of Diane R. Wolf, 1982
Accession Number
1982.444
Tags
Art Historical Context
Thomas Hewes Hinckley *Rats amongst the Barley Sheaves* (1851), an oil-on-canvas painting measuring 33¼ × 40¼ inches, vividly captures a tense rural encounter. Rendered with meticulous detail, the work depicts rats scavenging amid golden barley sheaves—bundled stalks left after harvest—while alert dogs close in, poised for the hunt. This American genre scene, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art American Wing, reflects the gritty realities of 19th-century farm life. Painted during a time when agriculture dominated the U.S. economy, the artwork highlights the constant battle against pests tha...
About the Artist
Thomas Hewes Hinckley · 1813–1896
Thomas Hewes Hinckley (1813–1896) was an American painter who became one of the leading specialists in animal painting in the United States during the mid-nineteenth century. Born in Milton, Massachusetts, he was largely self-taught in his early years, developing his skills through sustained observation of animals in the field and study of European masters whose work he encountered in reproduction...