Among American artists, the
name of William Sidney Mount stands out as the most successful
painter of the happy side of Long Island country life. Almost all of
his paintings portray a story of rural life in the "good old days," of
the last century when straw rides and hay frolices were the order of
the day, and the titles take us back to the life and joys of our
grandfathers. Most of his paintings were taken from actual scenes on
Long Island and many of them near his home at Stony Brook.
He was
born November 26, 1807, at Setauket, where his father, Thomas Shepard
Mount, was a farmer and innkeeper. He had three brothers and a
sister. His mother was the former Julia Hawkins of Stony Brook.
During William's childhood, the family moved to the Hawkins
homestead in Stony Brook, which was the home of his mother's family.
This has been known as the Mount house, and in the old studio
in the attic of this house many of his paintings were made.
At the age of 17, he went
to New York and worked with his brother, Henry S. Mount as a sign
painter, but it soon became evident he was destined for higher
things. He was elected an associate of the National Academy in
1831,and his paintings soon made their appearance in important
galleries and exhibitions. After a few years in the city, he returned
to Stony Brook where he applied himself to his art the rest of his
life.
His first picture a portrait of himself, was painted in 1828.
In 1830 his painting, "The Country Dance," attracted wide attention, and
indicated to the young artist the road along which fame beckoned. He
knew and loved his country neighbors and had a wonderful ability to
put on canvas their homely joys of everyday life.
"The
Farmers Nooning," painted in 1837, is one of his best works and represents the
noon hour rest of a farmer and his men who were working in a distant
field too far from the homestead to return for dinner. The scene was
painted at a spot on the Mount farm at Stony Brook.
Many of his best
paintings were of scenes on his farm and around the old barn, and
The "Power of Music" was staged in the center of the barn, with the
bulging hay lofts overhead, and an interested group of listeners on
the sidelines. "Bargaining for a Horse," and "Coming to the Point"
graphically depict on old fashioned horse trade.
Mount was a close
friend of Benjamin F. Thompson, the historian of Long Island, and
the artist and writer had much in common. A reproduction of the
portrait of Thompson by Mount may be found in the frontispiece in
the third edition of "Thompson's History of Long Island."
The old Mount
homestead at Stony Brook was built in 1757 by Eleazer Hawkins and is
surrounded by boxwood as old as the house itself. The house is a
large one, two and a-half stories in height, and as we approach the
front door our attention is attracted by the old Queen Anne knocker,
to the face of which, tradition has it, the Mounts applied flesh
tints regularly. To the right of the enormous fireplace in the
kitchen is an old seat which was the favorite resting place of a
privileged slave known as Cain.
Many artists are unfortunate that
they are not in tune with their times, but this was not true of
Mount, He painted the American scene at the height of a period when
nationalism was living force. America was proud of its newborn
individuality, and Americans felt no false sense depicted
themselves as rustics or backwoodsmen, because they knew themselves
to be self-reliant and as good as the next man, So it was that Mount
could paint what he saw around him and find his efforts praised.
The
artist died on November 19, 1868, and was buried in the old cemetery
adjoining the Presbyterian church in Setauket. His tombstone carries
the following inscription.
"William Sidney
Mount. Born at Setauket,
November 26, 1807, Died November 19, 1868. As a painter, eminent and
original. As a man, exemplary and beloved."