Provenance
Recorded as from a farmhouse in the Mahantango Valley, Pennsylvania. (John H. Chamberlain, Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania), by whom sold in 1947 to Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch; gift to NGA, 1953.
Accession Number
1953.5.94
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 75 x 72.1 cm (29 1/2 x 28 3/8 in.) | framed: 90.1 x 89.2 x 5.5 cm (35 1/2 x 35 1/8 x 2 3/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch
Tags
Painting Neoclassical & Romantic (1751–1850) Oil Painting Canvas American
Background & Context
Background Story
Farmhouse in Mahantango Valley from the late 19th century is a companion to Mahantango Valley Farm, depicting a farmhouse in the same central Pennsylvania valley. The two paintings together provide a visual record of the rural Pennsylvania landscape and architecture that characterized the Mahantango Valley in the 19th century, and the oil on canvas support indicates a more permanent commission than the window shade painting. The farmhouse subject reflects the rural architecture of central Pennsylvania that provided subjects for both folk painters and more accomplished professional painters.
Cultural Impact
The two Mahantango Valley paintings together provide a visual record of the rural Pennsylvania landscape and architecture that characterized the region in the 19th century. Farmhouse in Mahantango Valley on canvas indicates a more permanent commission than the window shade painting, demonstrating that the same rural subjects were treated by both folk painters and more accomplished professional painters serving the same rural community.
Why It Matters
Farmhouse in Mahantango Valley is a companion to the window shade painting: a Pennsylvania farmhouse on canvas that records the rural architecture of the region with more permanence than the folk painting on window shade. Together the two paintings provide a visual record of the 19th-century Mahantango Valley landscape and architecture.
