Long Island Homestead, Study from Nature

This intimate study, executed on the spot, captures the daily existence of an idyllic rural homestead. Sheep and cattle graze on the hill to the right. Several figures relax on the porch, while two women cut and bind sheaves of wheat in front of a pond. This is a model of self-sufficiency, complete with farmhouse, barn, vegetable and flower gardens, as well as land for crops and animals, and even a graveyard on the hill to the left. All of the inhabitants' needs are depicted from cradle to grave. But this kind of pastoral paradise was already being disrupted by the railroads. Increasingly, trains from Ohio and further west delivered supplies to the mill towns, undercutting the local farmers, and rendering scenes like this one a fond memory.