John George Brown (American (born England), 1831-1913), 'The Country Gallants,' Oil on canvas, 1876. Purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott, 1949.23
As industrialization and urbanization changed the landscape and society in the mid-1800s, America's past became the object of romantic nostalgia. Scenes of simple, idealistic rural life like this one were sought by middleclass city dwellers. Born in England, but settling in New York in 1853, John George Brown was one of the most successful painters of such sentimental scenes of everyday life in the late 19th century.