Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Catalog Data

Created by:
Nicolino Calyo, Italian American, 1799 - 1884  Search this
Subject of:
Unidentified Man or Men  Search this
Unidentified Woman or Women  Search this
Unidentified Child or Children  Search this
Medium:
oil paint on canvas , wood
Dimensions:
H x W (unframed): 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm)
H x W x D (framed): 30 3/16 × 26 × 3 3/8 in. (76.6 × 66 × 8.5 cm)
Type:
oil paintings
Place depicted:
Weeksville, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
Date:
ca. 1840
Description:
This oil painting depicts seven individuals gathered around a water pump. From left to right these figures include: a young boy working the pump handle wearing brown pants and jacket with a blue shirt, a woman seated on a basket of laundry, wearing a pink dress and white head wrap, a man with his right leg propped up on the edge of the basin in a wide brimmed straw hat, a kneeling youth in a red shirt drinking from the pump's spout, a woman carrying a bucket, a man carrying a basket of peaches over his left arm and several dead fowl in his right hand, and a woman holding a baby and a green parasol. A black dog lies on the ground behind her. All individuals except the woman and baby are on a square pavement of red brick. The water pump sits in the middle of the pavement surrounded by a low walled, rectangular basin. The pump is a rectangular stone pillar topped with a small dome. A spout protrudes from halfway up the pillar, and the pump handle is a lever that protrudes from the adjacent pillar side. Water flows out the spout into the basin below. In the background is a landscape of trees on either side of a wide street with a few buildings in the distance. On the right is a white house with a green door and shutters, and a fanlight over the entrance. In the distance are two other white buildings, one on the left with a colonnade and a tall steeple, and a much smaller one across from it on the right with a cupola. There are a several indistinct figures walking and riding down the street.
Topic:
African American  Search this
Art  Search this
Children  Search this
Communities  Search this
Free communities of color  Search this
Men  Search this
Women  Search this
Credit Line:
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Object number:
2010.5ab
Restrictions & Rights:
Public domain
Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
See more items in:
National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
Classification:
Visual Arts
Slavery and Freedom Objects
Data Source:
National Museum of African American History and Culture
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd5cf4c3a96-02bb-4c72-95b6-7920358eebb8
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmaahc_2010.5ab