William T. Ranney 1813-1857

American Art-Union, 1850
Cyrus Cole, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1850 (acquired from the above through a lottery)
Daniel Pomery Cole, Springfield, Massachusetts (his son)
Lucy Cole, Springfield, Massachusetts, circa 1940s (his daughter)
Gift to the present owner from the above (her nephew)

American Art-Union, 1850, no. 320

American Art-Union papers, Register, "Works of Art: 1848-1851," New-York Historical Society, New York, reel 2, no. 2352, September 12, 1850
New York Tribune, December 16, 1850
New York Herald, December 17, 1850, p. 3
New York Herald, December 21, 1850, p. 5
Mary Bartlett Cowdrey, ed., American Academy of Fine Arts and American Art-Union, 1816-1852, New York, 1953, vol. 2, no. 320, p. 295
Francis S. Grubar, William Ranney, Painter of the Early West, Washington D.C., 1962, no. 43
Linda Bantel and Peter H. Hassrick, Forging an American Identity: The Art of William Ranney, with a Catalogue of His Works, Cody, Wyoming, 2006, no. 53, pp. 75-76, illustrated in color

Please call the department at 212-606-7280 to receive the condition report prepared by Simon Parkes.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Though there is little evidence that William Ranney received any formal training, this self-taught artist achieved widespread popularity in his own lifetime. Some of his early paintings from the 1840s were derived from sketches made a decade earlier while serving in the Texan war of independence.  Several of Ranney's works such as Boone's First View of Kentucky (Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma,1849) were reproduced as engravings by the American Art Union and widely disseminated. By the late 1840s, Ranney had left New York City for a more rural environment, relocating to Weehawken, New Jersey, and eventually settling in West Hoboken. Near the artist's home were the Hudson River to the east and the New Jersey marshes to the west. Inspired by his surroundings, Ranney, an avid hunter and fisherman, began to produce a greater number of genre and landscape scenes, particularly those that related to sporting life. The Lazy Fisherman, painted in 1850, may well be located in the marshlands of Northern New Jersey where the artist often fished.

Ranney had a sharp eye for narrative detail--the neglected fishing rod and absence of any catch, bottle of alcohol and partially-opened book in The Lazy Fisherman all communicate an image of an amateur seeking relaxation rather than sport. Details within the picture hint at the subject's lack of knowledge regarding proper sporting practice. The red towel blocking the hot sun signals that he is fishing in the heat of summer, though the cooler months in spring or fall are preferred; the empty picnic basket suggests that it is later in the day, though the fish are most abundant in early morning; finally, the lack of any catch shows that the lazy angler has even failed to choose a spot with an abundance of fish.   

Ranney's idyllic scene references larger contemporary debates about proper sporting habits. In the early decades of the nineteenth century a greater number of middle-class New Yorkers moved away from the rapidly-growing city in search of a healthier environment. Like Ranney, many moved to more rural areas like northern New Jersey and took up hunting and fishing. The growing numbers of sportsmen as well as burgeoning commercial fisheries were putting pressure on local resources. Beginning in the 1830s, a profusion of literature praising the "true sportsman" was produced to promote proper sporting etiquette and thereby protect the local hunting and fishing grounds. Ranney himself likely frowned on the techniques of some of these newcomers, and The Lazy Fisherman doubtless carried more than a small amount of mockery in its carefully-crafted imagery.