Cider Making

William Sidney Mount

1840–41 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing

In this work, Mount explicitly recorded the steps involved in making hard cider, presenting an image of idyllic farm life in Setauket, Long Island. While the scene is vivid and cheerful, it also references current events. A newspaper story about the painting suggested that Mount may have intended each figure to represent candidates in the 1840 presidential campaign. In that race, the successful Whig candidate, William Henry Harrison, defeated the Jacksonian Democrats by presenting himself as a "common man," who would rather drink cider in a log cabin than reside in the White House.

Artist

William Sidney Mount

Date

1840–41

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Purchase, Bequest of Charles Allen Munn, by exchange, 1966