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Cider Making

1840–41
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 758
In this work, Mount explicitly recorded the steps involved in making hard cider, presenting an image of idyllic farm life in Setauket, Long Island. While the scene is vivid and cheerful, it also references current events. A newspaper story about the painting suggested that Mount may have intended each figure to represent candidates in the 1840 presidential campaign. In that race, the successful Whig candidate, William Henry Harrison, defeated the Jacksonian Democrats by presenting himself as a "common man," who would rather drink cider in a log cabin than reside in the White House.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Cider Making
  • Artist: William Sidney Mount (American, Setauket, New York 1807–1868 Setauket, New York)
  • Date: 1840–41
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 27 x 34 1/8 in. (68.6 x 86.7 cm)
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Bequest of Charles Allen Munn, by exchange, 1966
  • Object Number: 66.126
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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4338. Cider Making

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