William Sidney Mount

William Sidney Mount was an important nineteenth-century genre painter (painter of everyday scenes). His subjects were almost exclusively rural scenes—many of which carried veiled political messages—and portraits.  Mount was born in Setauket, a village on Long Island and spent time as a boy living with relatives in New York City. After a short apprenticeship with a sign maker, he studied briefly at the National Academy of Design in New York, but he was primarily self-taught. An ambitious painter, inventor, and entrepreneur who worked both in New York and in rural areas on Long Island Sound, Mount carefully cultivated a reputation as a homegrown talent. While at first he focused on history painting and portraiture, he soon gained attention for genre scenes. By drawing his subject matter from daily life, Mount rejected grand historical scenes modeled after European examples, and his refusal to travel abroad for further study underscored his commitment to the United States. Mount’s images were disseminated through engravings and color lithographs based on his paintings—a common practice before the age of photography. These prints popularized his work and encouraged other artists to pursue similar subjects. Hailed by critics of the era as an original American artist, Mount created works that reflect daily life, but also the political discourse of his time.