The Smokers' Rebellion (The Edict of William The Testy)
Paris: Goupil & Co., c1880. Photogravure and engraving on Chine collé mounted to wove paper, 11 5/8 x 16 1/4 (295 x 413 mm), the full sheet. Scattered rust-colored discoloration at the bottom of the sheet, extending in a bow into the margin, but well outside of the image area. Several scattered light spots of discoloration in the lower and right margin of the image area on the recto, and throughout on the verso, otherwise in good condition.
"The Smokers' Rebellion" refers primarily to a famous 17th-century incident in New Amsterdam (later New York) where residents defied Governor Willem Kieft's ban on smoking by openly smoking pipes outside his house until he rescinded the law. It is one of the most well-known Dutch colonial events, symbolizing playful resistance to authority.
A note on the artist:
A leading landscape and genre painter in the United States and Europe, George Henry Boughton (1833 – 1905) did scenes of England, Brittany and The Netherlands. He was also an illustrator of books by Washington Irving including "Rip Van Winkle" and "History of New York" and Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter." Many of his works were small in size, and he is primarily known for paintings that expressed sentimentality in soft, muted tones. Many of his subjects were rural, rustic figures. He spent only a small portion of his life in the United States, but it was a formative period.
Born near Norwich, England, in 1834, he was brought to America in 1839 by his parents when he was three years old and was raised in Albany, New York. Boughton taught himself to paint and was so good at it that, by the time he was 19 years old, he had earned enough through purchases by the American Art Union, an art-promoting organization, to make a six-month sketching tour in England. His success continued after his return and he moved to New York City in 1858 and to Paris, France, in 1861. The following year, Boughton moved to London, England, opened a studio and remained there until his death in 1905. Boughton exhibited many of his paintings in the United States, where he had numerous patrons. Many of his works have a distinct American colonial theme.
—Michael David Zellman, 300 Years of American Art.
Item number: 2251
Price: $175.00
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