Photo © Image courtesy of the Terra Foundation for American Art
Unable to open [object Object]: HTTP 0 attempting to load TileSource: https://ids.lib.harvard.edu/ids/iiif/495855486/info.json
Photo © Image courtesy of the Terra Foundation for American Art
This object does not yet have a description.

Gallery Text

Painted during a period of partisan conflict, this composition’s doubling of owls and trees seems to insist on dialogue and reflection. Though the artist’s identity remains uncertain, it is interesting to note that Heade spent his twilight years writing under the pseudonym “Didymus,” the ancient Greek word for double or twin, for the popular 19th-century hunting and fishing magazine "Forest and Stream." A regular correspondent concerned with the hemisphere’s birds (and those who overhunted them), Didymus wrote that “wild creatures . . . are put on this earth to inhabit it with [us as] more than mere bundles of flesh and bone.”Heade wrote often of the “wild, unfrequented marshes” of the northeast landscape that provided shelter for the hunted birds.—Saffron Sener, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History, Harvard University, and Curatorial Intern in American Art, Harvard Art Museums

Identification and Creation

Object Number
TL42458.3
People
Unidentified Artist
Previously attributed to Martin Johnson Heade, American (Lumberville, PA 1819 - 1904 St. Augustine, FL)
Title
Two Owls at Sunset
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
c. 1860
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/377173

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2100, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, Centuries of Tradition, Changing Times: Art for an Uncertain Age
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
36.2 × 61.6 cm (14 1/4 × 24 1/4 in.)
Frame: 66 × 91 cm (26 × 35 13/16 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Terra Foundation for American Art Study Collection, Gift of Steven Michaan
Object Number
TL42458.3
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2100 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/20/2023 - 03/20/2026

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu