About the Artwork
As an amateur musician, composer, and music lover, Mount evinced a lifelong interest in musical subjects. The violin was his favorite instrument, but he painted at least two banjo players, one a black musician, and this unfinished work. Mount’s descendants spoke of the artist’s intention “to paint additional figures dancing in the barn.” Technical examination confirms that sketchy outlines in faded white paint of two high-stepping figures can be discerned to the right of the musician.
The Banjo Player
between 1850 and 1855
William Sidney Mount
1807 - 1868
American
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Oil on canvas
Unframed: 25 × 30 inches (63.5 × 76.2 cm) Framed: 31 9/16 × 36 3/8 × 3 1/8 inches (80.2 × 92.4 × 7.9 cm)
Paintings
American Art before 1950
Gift of Dexter M. Ferry, Jr.
38.60
Public Domain
Markings
Signed, at lower left: Wm. S. Mount
Provenance
the artist's descendants.Charles Q. Archdeacon (Stony Book, New York, USA).
until 1917, Charles J. Werner (Stony Book, New York, USA).
1938, dealer, Norman Hirschl (New York, New York, USA).
1938-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
New York Herald (April 10, 1871): p. 7.
Lesley, Parker. "'The Banjo Player' by William S. Mount." Bulletin of the DIA 18, 4 (January 1939): pp. 6-7 (ill.).
Lane, James W. “The Long Islander.” Art Quarterly 4, 2 (1941): pp. 137, 143 (ill.). [Noted to have been exhibited at The National Academy of Design, New York, 1858]
Cowdrey, Mary Bartlett and Hermann Warner Williams, Jr. William Sidney Mount 1807-1868: An American Painter. New York, 1944, pp. 27, 37, no. 95.
The World of the Romantic Artist: A Survey of American Culture from 1800 to 1875. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1944, p. 34, no. 86.
Rediscoveries in American Painting. Exh. cat., Cincinnati Art Museum. Cincinnati, 1955, no. 62.
The American Vision. Exh. cat., Wildenstein Gallery. New York, 1957, no. 12.
Eliot, Alexander. Three Hundred Years of American Painting. New York, 1957, p. 69 (ill.).
American Realists. Exh. cat., Hamilton Art Gallery. Hamilton, Ontario, 1961, no. 49.
Green, Samuel M. American Art: A Historical Survey. New York, 1966, p. 272 (pl. 4-84).
William Sidney Mount 1807-1868. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1968, no. 36.
Cummings, Frederick J. and Charles H. Elam, eds. The Detroit Institute of Arts Illustrated Handbook. Detroit, 1971, p. 140.
Price, Vincent. Treasury of American Art. Waukesha, WI, 1972, p. 107 (ill.).
Frankenstein, Alfred. William Sidney Mount. New York, 1975, pp. 324, 462, 477 (pl. 37). [as Banjo Player in the Barn, ca. 1855]
Heritage and Horizon: American Paintings, 1776-1976. Exh. cat., Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Buffalo, 1976, no. 16.
American Perspective: Nineteenth-Century Art from the Collection of Jo Ann and Julian Ganz, Jr. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1981, no. 36.
Fisher, L.E. Masterpieces of American Painting. New York, 1985, pp. 62-63 (ill.).
Shaw, Nancy Rivard, et al. American Paintings in the Detroit Institute of Arts, Volume I. New York, 1991, pp. 139-141, no. 61 (ill.).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
William Sidney Mount, The Banjo Player, between 1850 and 1855, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Dexter M. Ferry, Jr., 38.60.
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