This painting enjoyed tremendous popularity in 19th-century America. It was a style that allowed a painter to tell a story evoke an emotion tell a joke or educate. Largely superseded in the twentieth century by changes in popular taste and improvements in photographic technology nevertheless remains a strong subcurrent in popular taste. One of the most notable painters in this mode was Harry Roseland. Roseland born in Brooklyn New York in 1868 matured as an artist while waves of change were sweeping over the art world. Largely self-taught he chose to paint what he saw. He received some education in art under James Barnard Whittaker in Brooklyn and at first painted some landscapes and still life’s but his natural flair was for telling a story in his paintings. His subject matter was at first highly sentimental and heavily influenced by fashionable taste smartly turned-out young women old folks and idealized farm scenes. He abandoned the mawkishness that is the downfall of so many self-educated artists when he found a topic that was close to home and yet largely unnoticed the post-Civil War blacks who formed the underpinning of Northeastern society. Roselands clever skillful scenes of homely activities - such as checkers or letter-reading were remarkably dispassionate and candid for the time though to modern eyes they may seem condescending and dated. Frame Description Panzano Olivewood Frame. Color: Brown.