The Wilson Farm

Periodca. 1890

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions23.75 × 32.5 in. (60.3 × 82.6 cm)

ClassificationsLandscapes & Still Life

Credit LineGift of the Estate of Anne Jackson Riker, 1983

Object number1983.9.5

DescriptionDepiction of a typical Monmouth County farmstead under a brilliant sunset sky with a white one-and-a-half story house to the right connected to a single story rear kitchen wing. Behind it to the left is a smoke house or out house. A large red barn with attached double corn crib and wagon house is on the left, and the yard is surrounded by a white rail fence. A well house appears in the yard behind or to the left of the barn. A grove of trees has been depicted behind the farmstead, and another in the left distance. A road cuts across the painting, dividing the farmstead from its field in the foreground. The field is being plowed in long parallel rows by an African-American farm hand. The plow is being pulled by a brown horse.
Curatorial RemarksDavid Provost Van Brackle (1823 - 1922) had retired in 1904 after 54 years as a school teacher in Monmouth County. For a short time, he lived at the Wilson farm with a niece. Van Brackle took up painting late in life. He has left a small body of work that includes scenes of farms, mills, residences, and the America’s Cup yacht races, as well as still life paintings. The majority of his colorful and detailed images depict locations in Middletown within walking distance of the Wilson farm. A number of Van Brackle farm scenes have been laid out with a very acute, angular perspective as if seen through a wide angle lens. Descendants of the artist claimed he suffered from poor eye sight, a fact confirmed by a portrait photograph that shows him with thick eye glasses. A 30 July 1887 article in the Keyport Enterprise notes that "M. L. Terry, the painter, has just finished Daniel Wilson's house in Middletown. It now looks as white as snow."NotesThe Wilson farm, once located on what is now called Old Country Road north of Middletown village, had been in the Wilson family since the 17th century. In the late 19th century, the property was owned by Daniel Wilson (1826-1908) and consisted of about 150 acres.

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