The belated Kid
| Support Type: | Canvas |
| Paint Type: | Oil Paint |
| Current Location: | National Gallery of Art (NGA) collection in Washington, D.C., USA. |
| Location History: | The Belated Kid was painted in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1857, where William Morris Hunt completed the work. It later entered the collection of Sidney Brooks in Massachusetts and was exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 1879. The painting remained within the Brooks family before being donated to Bradford Junior College in Massachusetts in 1962. It was later sold in 1980 and passed through the Jordan Volpe Gallery in New York before being acquired by the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1981. Following the dissolution of the Corcoran’s collection, it became part of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 2015, where it remains today. |
The girl is depicted standing within a wide open landscape. She is holding a small goat in her arms. A second goat is also present, and seems to be following the girl. She is depicted wearing a brown dress and is barefoot, which indicates that the scene is trying to paint an ordinary, rural world, rather than showing wealth or idealisation. The girl is also looking down, not at the viewer, which makes the theme of her relationship with the animal she is holding more prominent. Behind her can be seen a large open expanse of land with a low horizon and a subdued golden-brown sky. The foreground is mostly composed of land, and the earth-like colours seem to give the whole scene a settled feel, with the girl and the animals positioned firmly within it. Hunt has used cold, muted, earthy colours like greens, browns and golds rather than bright colours or vivid brushwork, lending the scene a quiet, nostalgic tone. Her depiction of the way the girl is holding the goat give us the impression that this is an everyday event for her, and that she simply decided to do it. The positioning of the other goat further conveys the idea that the girl is used to her animals being around her, and sets the scene to become more intimate. The calmness of the entire scene makes it seem as if no dramatic incidents are occurring, but that a quiet companionship is in operation.