Skip to main contentProvenanceThe artist
Pierre Flandin, New York, 1820s
Christie's New York, New York, December 9, 1983, lot 5
Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York
Private collection
Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1984
Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1999
Exhibition HistoryPublished References
John Lewis Krimmel
(American, 1786–1821)
Blind Fiddler
1812
Oil on canvas
Image: 16 5/8 x 22 1/16 in. (42.2 x 56.0 cm)
Frame: 22 x 27 3/8 x 3 in. (55.9 x 69.5 x 7.6 cm)
Frame: 22 x 27 3/8 x 3 in. (55.9 x 69.5 x 7.6 cm)
Credit LineTerra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection
Object number1999.81
SignedUnsigned
InterpretationCopied after a painting by Scottish artist David Wilkie (1785–1841), John Lewis Krimmel’s Blind Fiddler pictures the visit of an itinerant blind musician and his impoverished family to a rural home. Children stop their play to watch the fiddler, while the father snaps his fingers to the music, delighting the baby on its mother’s lap. Behind them, an older boy mimics the fiddler and his instrument, using a poker and bellows from the fireplace. The fiddler’s own family, by contrast, takes no notice of the entertainment: the blind man’s wife huddles listlessly over her sleeping infant, while their older son warms his hands at the fire. The action takes place in the shallow, stage-like setting of a humble domestic interior casually strewn with a still-life-like assortment of household objects. In its focus on the everyday life and setting of ordinary people represented by generic, rather than specific, figures, Blind Fiddler is a typical example of so-called genre painting.
Krimmel knew Wilkie's celebrated 1806 painting from an engraving published in 1811 and immediately exported to the United States. Copying the painting was one more way of exploiting the popularity of the image; it was also a means by which Krimmel, a young and relatively untrained artist, could learn how to compose complex, multi-figural compositions. From Wilkie and other sources, notably genre paintings by contemporary German and seventeenth-century Dutch artists, Krimmel also absorbed the conventions of this class of paintings, such as expressive gestures of figures, focused compositions, and a blend of humor and moralism. In 1811, Krimmel began to apply these features to American subjects, as in Blind Man's Buff (TF 1999.82), also in the Terra Foundation's collection. Indeed, when he exhibited his copy of Wilkie's Blind Fiddler in Philadelphia in 1813, Krimmel displayed with it his original composition Quilting Frolic (1813, Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library) as a kind of American counterpart to the British genre scene. While Krimmel continued to draw on Wilkie's themes, typical Americans became the main focus of his paintings, the first works to celebrate the unique character of life in the young republic.
Krimmel knew Wilkie's celebrated 1806 painting from an engraving published in 1811 and immediately exported to the United States. Copying the painting was one more way of exploiting the popularity of the image; it was also a means by which Krimmel, a young and relatively untrained artist, could learn how to compose complex, multi-figural compositions. From Wilkie and other sources, notably genre paintings by contemporary German and seventeenth-century Dutch artists, Krimmel also absorbed the conventions of this class of paintings, such as expressive gestures of figures, focused compositions, and a blend of humor and moralism. In 1811, Krimmel began to apply these features to American subjects, as in Blind Man's Buff (TF 1999.82), also in the Terra Foundation's collection. Indeed, when he exhibited his copy of Wilkie's Blind Fiddler in Philadelphia in 1813, Krimmel displayed with it his original composition Quilting Frolic (1813, Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library) as a kind of American counterpart to the British genre scene. While Krimmel continued to draw on Wilkie's themes, typical Americans became the main focus of his paintings, the first works to celebrate the unique character of life in the young republic.
Pierre Flandin, New York, 1820s
Christie's New York, New York, December 9, 1983, lot 5
Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York
Private collection
Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1984
Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1999
Exhibition History
Third Annual Exhibition of The Columbian Society of Artists, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1813, no. 119.
Exhibition, American Academy of Fine Arts, New York, New York, 1820.
Selections from the Permanent Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 12–August 27, 1997.
New Faces, New Places: Recent Additions to the Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, October 14–December 31, 2000.
L'Héroïque et le quotidien: les artistes américains, 1820–1920 (The Extraordinary and the Everyday: American Perspectives, 1820–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–November 30, 2001. [exh. cat.]
American Classics: Selections from the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, January 26–September 1, 2002.
The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940 (Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains 1840–1940)), Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 15–May 25, 2003; Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 8–August 17, 2003. [exh. cat.]
Le Temps des loisirs : peintures américaines (At Leisure: American Paintings), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, July 15–October 31, 2007.
Le Temps des loisirs : peintures américaines (At Leisure: American Paintings), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2008.
Exhibition, American Academy of Fine Arts, New York, New York, 1820.
Selections from the Permanent Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 12–August 27, 1997.
New Faces, New Places: Recent Additions to the Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, October 14–December 31, 2000.
L'Héroïque et le quotidien: les artistes américains, 1820–1920 (The Extraordinary and the Everyday: American Perspectives, 1820–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–November 30, 2001. [exh. cat.]
American Classics: Selections from the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, January 26–September 1, 2002.
The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940 (Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains 1840–1940)), Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 15–May 25, 2003; Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 8–August 17, 2003. [exh. cat.]
Le Temps des loisirs : peintures américaines (At Leisure: American Paintings), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, July 15–October 31, 2007.
Le Temps des loisirs : peintures américaines (At Leisure: American Paintings), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2008.
"Review of the Third Annual Exhibition of The Columbian Society of Artists and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts." The Portfolio 1 (July 1813): 138–39.
Dunlap, William. A History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States Vol. 2. Boston, Massachusetts: C. E. Goodspeed & Company, 1918. Text pp. 392–93.
Jackson, Joseph. "Krimmel: The American Hogarth." International Studio 2 (June 1929): 33–36, 86. Text p. 86.
Naeve, Milo. "John Lewis Krimmel: His Life, His Art and His Critics." Master's thesis, University of Delaware, 1955. Text pp. 65–70.
Keyes, Donald. "The Sources for William Sidney Mount's Earliest Genre Paintings." Art Quarterly 32 (Autumn 1969): 259–60.
Hills, Patricia. The Painter’s America: Rural and Urban Life, 1810–1910. New York: Praeger Publishers, in association with the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1974. Text p. 2.
Hoover, Catherine. "The Influence of David Wilkie's Prints on the Genre Paintings of William Sidney Mount." American Art Journal 13, no. 3 (Summer 1981): 5–33. Text p. 6n8–7n8, 11–12.
Christie's, New York, New York (Sale 5472, December 9, 1983): lot 5. Text p. 14; ill. p. 15, lot 5 (color).
American Paintings III 1985. New York: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., 1985. Text p. 12; ill. p. 13 (color).
The Magazine Antiques 130 (September 1986): 334. Text p. 334; ill. p. 334 (color).
Naeve, Milo. John Lewis Krimmel: An Artist in Federal America. Newark, Delaware: University of Delaware Press, 1987. Text pp. 57, 71–73; ill. p. 72, no. 3 (black & white).
Falk, Peter Hastings, ed. The Annual Exhibition Record of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Madison, Connecticut: Sound View Press, 1988. Text p. 116, no. 119.
Oedel, William T. “Review: Krimmel at the Crossroads.” Winterthur Portfolio 23, no. 4 (Winter 1988): 273–281. Text p. 279.
Stewart, Robert G. “Review: John Lewis Krimmel: An Artist in Federal America. By Milo N. Naeve.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 113, no. 3 (July 1989): 467–469. Text p. 468.
Harding, Anneliese. John Lewis Krimmel: Genre Painter of the Early Republic. Winterthur, Delaware: The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1994. Text pp. 67, 70.
Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text p. 28 (checklist); ill. p. 32 (color).
Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text p. 28 (checklist); ill. p. 32 (color).
Harding, Annelise. “British and Scottish Models for the American Genre Paintings of John Lewis Krimmel.” Winterthur Portfolio 38, no. 4 (Winter 2003): 221–244. Text p. 227–230, 232, 238; ill. p. 229 (black & white).
Dasch, Rowena Houghton. “’Now Exhibiting’: Charles Bird King’s Picture Gallery, Fashioning American Taste and Nation, 1824–1861.” PhD dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin, 2012. Text pp. xx, 187n8, 188–194; ill. p. 313, fig. 84 (color).
Bourguignon, Katherine M., and Peter John Brownlee, eds. Conversations with the Collection: A Terra Foundation Collection Handbook. Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2018. Text pp. 80–82; fig. 1, p. 81 (color).
Dunlap, William. A History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States Vol. 2. Boston, Massachusetts: C. E. Goodspeed & Company, 1918. Text pp. 392–93.
Jackson, Joseph. "Krimmel: The American Hogarth." International Studio 2 (June 1929): 33–36, 86. Text p. 86.
Naeve, Milo. "John Lewis Krimmel: His Life, His Art and His Critics." Master's thesis, University of Delaware, 1955. Text pp. 65–70.
Keyes, Donald. "The Sources for William Sidney Mount's Earliest Genre Paintings." Art Quarterly 32 (Autumn 1969): 259–60.
Hills, Patricia. The Painter’s America: Rural and Urban Life, 1810–1910. New York: Praeger Publishers, in association with the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1974. Text p. 2.
Hoover, Catherine. "The Influence of David Wilkie's Prints on the Genre Paintings of William Sidney Mount." American Art Journal 13, no. 3 (Summer 1981): 5–33. Text p. 6n8–7n8, 11–12.
Christie's, New York, New York (Sale 5472, December 9, 1983): lot 5. Text p. 14; ill. p. 15, lot 5 (color).
American Paintings III 1985. New York: Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., 1985. Text p. 12; ill. p. 13 (color).
The Magazine Antiques 130 (September 1986): 334. Text p. 334; ill. p. 334 (color).
Naeve, Milo. John Lewis Krimmel: An Artist in Federal America. Newark, Delaware: University of Delaware Press, 1987. Text pp. 57, 71–73; ill. p. 72, no. 3 (black & white).
Falk, Peter Hastings, ed. The Annual Exhibition Record of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Madison, Connecticut: Sound View Press, 1988. Text p. 116, no. 119.
Oedel, William T. “Review: Krimmel at the Crossroads.” Winterthur Portfolio 23, no. 4 (Winter 1988): 273–281. Text p. 279.
Stewart, Robert G. “Review: John Lewis Krimmel: An Artist in Federal America. By Milo N. Naeve.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 113, no. 3 (July 1989): 467–469. Text p. 468.
Harding, Anneliese. John Lewis Krimmel: Genre Painter of the Early Republic. Winterthur, Delaware: The Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1994. Text pp. 67, 70.
Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text p. 28 (checklist); ill. p. 32 (color).
Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text p. 28 (checklist); ill. p. 32 (color).
Harding, Annelise. “British and Scottish Models for the American Genre Paintings of John Lewis Krimmel.” Winterthur Portfolio 38, no. 4 (Winter 2003): 221–244. Text p. 227–230, 232, 238; ill. p. 229 (black & white).
Dasch, Rowena Houghton. “’Now Exhibiting’: Charles Bird King’s Picture Gallery, Fashioning American Taste and Nation, 1824–1861.” PhD dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin, 2012. Text pp. xx, 187n8, 188–194; ill. p. 313, fig. 84 (color).
Bourguignon, Katherine M., and Peter John Brownlee, eds. Conversations with the Collection: A Terra Foundation Collection Handbook. Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2018. Text pp. 80–82; fig. 1, p. 81 (color).