Thomas Mickell Burnham

The Young Artist, 1840

oil on canvas

36 x 39 in.

Martha Delzell Memorial Fund

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After completing some informal art training, Boston-born Thomas Mickell Burnham made his first trip abroad. When he returned he took up sign painting and then opened a portrait studio, since portraiture was the best way to earn a living.  Success at this profession allowed Burnham to travel to Scotland in 1839.  Upon his return, he began concentrating on genre and landscape painting along with portraiture.  In the mid-nineteenth century Burnham painted his most famous work The Lewis and Clark Expedition mostly from his imagination.

The Young Artist was meant to appeal to the Boston public in many ways. It was humorous, and its moral tone was defined and clarified by the verse that accompanied it which read,  “Fair lady, turn not by in scorn, At talent to the pencil born, Genius knows naught of age or clime, ‘Tis God’s own mind – ‘tis all divine.” The painting appealed to abolitionists in its quiet depiction of America’s children, the country’s future, putting aside issues of race to play together. It is clear that the Black boy is a full participant in the fun.  The painting embodies the prevailing philosophy of America as a young nation full of youthful energy and fun, where everyone can enjoy the fruits of honest labor and still have time for leisure.  Under the disapproving eye of an old woman, a favorite stock character at the time, the children are engaged in an innocent pastime filled with good humor. Burnham painted similar versions of this painting changing the positions and activities of the children, but always including the Black boy.

Reference

H. Warner Williams, Jr. Mirror to American Past: A Survey of American Genre Painting: 1740-1900, New York Graphic Society, 1973.  ASIN: B002DGQJ40