Evening, Into the Barn, 1906
Courtesy of the owner.
Vital Statistics
Oil on canvas, 20 x 27 inches
Signed and dated lr: “W. T. Trego 1906”
Private Collection
Commentary
In this bucolic scene, a group of cows comes towards the
viewer as the sun sets in the background. The orange sun in a blue sky, both of
equal tonality, is reminiscent of the work of Claude Monet. Though Trego’s
opinion of them was never very favorable, he was not completely immune to the influence
of the French Impressionists. The cows are carefully modeled as are the horses
in his many battle scenes. Just as the expressions of the horses were often
used to signal the dangers and terrors of battle, here the cows’ subtle
expressions of weary contentment are intended to convey the spirit of the
scene. The same cows appear in another painting done around the same time,
suggesting that Trego’s models lived on one of the nearby farms.
Provenance
Sold in June 2012 at Alderfer's Auction in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, to the current owner.
Exhibitions
Doylestown, Pennsylvania, James A. Michener Art Museum, June 3-Oct 2, 2011: "So Bravely and So Well: The Life and Art of William T. Trego."
Reproductions
Phil Johnson Ruth,
Fair Land,Gwynedd (West Point, Pennsylvania: Merck, Sharp, and Dohme, 1991), p. 93.
Condition
The painting was cleaned, repaired and restored in 2012 by the Pennsylvania Art Conservatory in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, and is in excellent condition.
< Black Musician, 1906 Three Cows, 1906 >
