The Cobbler's Apprentice

The Cobbler's Apprentice is a painting by the American painter Frank Duveneck, painted in 1877.[1] It hangs in the Taft Museum of Art of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States.[2] The oil on canvas portrait measures 38.5 by 26.75 inches (978 mm × 679 mm) and it is signed by the artist.[3][4]

Duveneck painted The Cobbler's Apprentice in Munich, Germany, where at the time he was regarded as a leading American artist.[3][5]

Description

[edit]

The subject of The Cobbler's Apprentice is a boy, shown three-quarters-length, and turned three quarters to the right. He is holding a large basket to his right side while he blows smoke from a cigar held in his left hand.[3]

Provenance

[edit]

The painting was sold in Munich for $25 to one Mr. von Hessling, the American Vice Consul, was for a time owned by Mr. Joseph Stransky of New York, and was finally acquired into the collection of Mr. Charles Phelps Taft.[6][7]

[edit]

The painting was parodied in the 2011 mural The Cobbler's Apprentice Plays Ball on The Banks near the Great American Ball Park.[8] Instead of holding a cigar and a basket of vegetables, the boy now appears holding a baseball bat.[9]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "The Cobbler's Apprentice". The Athenaeum. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  2. ^ "Frank Duveneck's "The Cobbler's Apprentice"". Ohio Historical Society. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  3. ^ a b c Charles Phelps Taft; Maurice Walter Brockwell (1920). A Catalogue of Paintings in the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Taft at Cincinnati, Ohio. Priv. print. p. 192.
  4. ^ "The Cobbler's Apprentice". Taft Museum of Art. 30 June 2011. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  5. ^ Mary Sayre Haverstock; Jeannette Mahoney Vance; Brian L. Meggitt (2000). Artists in Ohio, 1787-1900: A Biographical Dictionary. Kent State University Press. p. 250. ISBN 9780873386166.
  6. ^ Heermann, Norbert (1918). Frank Duveneck. Houghton Mifflin. p. 52.
  7. ^ Art and Archaeology, Volume 8. Archaeological Institute of America. 1919. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  8. ^ "The Cobbler's Apprentice Plays Ball". Downtown Cincinnati Inc. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  9. ^ Demaline, Jackie (Sep 19, 2011). "Mural at Banks goes to bat for Duveneck". Cincinnati.com. Retrieved 7 April 2014.