The Art Gallery at the Athenaeum contains one of America’s unique collections of 19th century American paintings. Each week we will feature a different work on this page. We hope educators will use this link as a tool to enrich their art curriculum. Vermonters and other citizens throughout the nation can now visit our gallery in this new, intimate, and informative way.
The text describing each painting was written by Mark D. Mitchell, Assistant Curator of Nineteenth-Century Art at the National Academy Museum. The digital images were prepared by Robert Jenks of Jenks Studio of Photography in St. Johnsbury, VT.
Please note that the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum prohibits the use of images from its collection in public exhibition, broadcast, electronic reproduction or publication in any form without prior written permission from the institution. If you would like to reproduce any of the Art Gallery images in any form, contact Irwin Gelber at 748-8291, extension 307.
Thomas Waterman Wood (1823-1903), American
On Guard, 1874
OIL ON CANVAS, 15 ½ x 19 ½ inches
Gift of Horace Fairbanks
A notable attribute of Vermont-native Thomas Waterman Wood's scenes of everyday life is their legibility. As one contemporary critic characterized the artist's appeal, "he secures attention by the directness of his story." In that respect, On Guard is typical. A baby sleeps quietly and peacefully in its cradle under the protection of the family dog. The empty rocking chair symbolizes an absent parent in whose place the dog keeps watch. Despite the warm, glowing embers of the hearth and the dog's presence, however, questions arise that unsettle the serenity of Woods composition: where has the baby's parent gone, and why is the dog awake and scowling? In the midst of a seemingly simple and reassuring narrative, the artist has introduced disquieting allusions that are not easily dismissed in the context of Reconstruction,