The Painter's Triumph

One of the greatest of all American genre painters - indeed, with George Caleb Bingham, the best known - the Long Island-based William Sidney Mount painted affectionately humorous depictions of everyday life as well as subtler explorations of political, class, and even racial issues facing the young country. Both levels are at work in "The Painter's Triumph," painted when the artist was thirty-one. Marked by his characteristic warm, golden tonality, Mount depicted himself amazing a spectator with the magic of mimesis. If Mount's characterization of the gap-toothed, awestruck farmer is comical, he also pokes fun at himself. The artist's dramatic expression, showman-like pose and agitated hair may spoof the artistic personality. Meanwhile, the drawing tacked to the wall of a bust of the "Apollo Belvedere" - one of the exemplars of antique art - alludes to the lofty ideals that Mount would have learned at the recently founded National Academy of Design. But have those ideals been shunted into a corner or do they still act as an inspiration? Is the painter's triumph the power of art to reach the masses or is it an ironic commentary on what the public wants? It is a measure of Mount's accomplishment that the viewer may agree with both interpretations.