Henry A. Loop (1831-1895), American
Idle Fancies, 1874
OIL ON CANVAS , 34 1/2 x 27 inches
Gift of Horace Fairbanks

Known primarily as a portraitist, Henry Loop gained critical recognition for his idealized genre scenes as well. Transcending the concerns of the everyday, these compositions evoke emotion and intimate symbolic meaning rather than telling a story or portraying an individual sitter.

In Idle Fancies, a young Italian peasant woman waits by a fountain while her pitcher fills. Lost in contemplation, she doesn't notice that it is already overflowing. In the background, a distant landscape and sunset suggest the content of her thoughts: time's passage and faraway places.