TitleApproaching Shower
Artist
John Frederick Kensett
(American, 1816 - 1872)
Date1859
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 18 × 27 in.
Framed: 27 × 36 1/8 × 3 1/8 in.
SignedSigned on lower right: "JFK. 59" [JF conjoined].
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY, Bequest of James A. Suydam, 1865
Object number697-P
Label TextJohn F. Kensett's "Approaching Shower" provides a sense of pastoral balance with nature. A man leads his herd of cattle home ahead of the coming rain, which itself offers an opportune excuse to illustrate the effects of rain on the atmosphere. The restful tenor of this painting is interrupted only by the dead branch of a tree at the lower right that foretells the snaking form of a lightning strike.
