George Henry Durrie and Sons

Estate of the artist

Harry T. Peters, Orange, Virginia

Sotheby's, New York, 22 October 1982, lot 45 (consigned by the estate of the above)

Jean and Graham D. Williford, Fairfield, Texas (acquired at the above sale)

Heritage, Dallas, 15 May 2012, lot 64465 (consigned by the above)

Godel & Co. Fine Art, New York

Acquired from the above in September 2012 by the present owner

Martha Y. Hutson, George Henry Durrie (1820-1863): American Winter Landscapist: Renowned Through Currier and Ives, Santa Barbara, California, 1977, no. 225, p. 225 (titled Winter Farmyard)

George Henry Durrie is regarded as one of the foremost American painters of mid-nineteenth-century winter landscapes, celebrated for his idealized depictions of New England farm life before the Civil War. Winter Farmyard with Ox-Drawn Sledge exemplifies one of his favored themes: a sunlit Connecticut farmyard animated by figures, livestock, and a passing sledge, rendered with compositional clarity and nostalgic calm. Completed shortly before Durrie’s death in 1863, the present work remained unsigned and was likely finished in his studio by one of his sons, a common practice following his passing.