Winter Scene

Painted by William Titcomb in 1851, this painting is of an iconic wintery New Hampshire landscape. A smoking chimney on a snow-covered house and its sunset-tinged sky is juxtaposed with a scene of children playing on a pond as a farmer leads home his ox pulling a sledge filled with the lumber he has cut down for next year’s use. As appealing as the scene is, the approaching cloud cover in the distance and the fallen tree in the foreground are troubling.