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Social Sharing
Winter in the Country
Artwork Viewer
George Henry Durrie was a Connecticut artist best known for his landscapes and winter farmyard scenes portraying free Northern labor. This painting depicts a scene near Durrie’s home in New Haven, a community where abolitionist agitation had historically thrived and continued to find forceful expression during the artist’s lifetime. In 1788, the “Enslaved People of New Haven” first petitioned for the abolition of slavery in Connecticut. Submitted by unidentified Black residents who appealed to the legislature for mercy and liberation, the petition describes the harsh treatment of enslaved people. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln forcefully asserted the evils of slavery in a speech delivered in New Haven, declaring “slaves are human beings; men, not property. . . . in short, [slavery is] a great moral, social, and political evil.”
- Artist
- George Henry Durrie
- Title
- Winter in the Country
- Date
- 1857
- Place of Creation
- United States
- Object Type
- Painting
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 18 x 24 in. (45.7 x 61 cm)
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase, Roscoe and Margaret Oakes Income Fund
- Accession Number
- 1985.47