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Taking the Census

1854
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 758
The United States Census of 1850 initiated the requirement that heads of households provide information about each of their dependents. The new regulation caused a good deal of confusion. Edmonds’s humorous image, which is the earliest known portrayal of the census-taking process, features a father’s painstaking efforts to recall his family statistics, while several of his children hide from sight. The small framed portrait of George Washington above the mantel evokes not only the genesis of the country’s political system but also the legendary admonition never to tell a lie. The carefully lit interior and wealth of detail in the composition were inspired, in part, by earlier Dutch genre scenes.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Taking the Census
  • Artist: Francis William Edmonds (American, Hudson, New York 1806–1863 Bronxville, New York)
  • Date: 1854
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 28 x 38 in. (71.1 x 96.5 cm)
  • Credit Line: Gift of Diane, Daniel, and Mathew Wolf, in honor of John K. Howat and Lewis I. Sharp, 2006
  • Object Number: 2006.457
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

More Artwork

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Three Studies: Standing Figure Facing Left; Interior with Figures and a Dog; Landscape (from Sketchbook), Francis William Edmonds American, Graphite on off-white wove paper, American
Three Studies: Standing Figure Facing Left; Interior with Figures and a Dog; Landscape (from Sketchbook)
Francis William Edmonds
ca. 1838 and after
Two Studies of a Dog: Lying Down and Rear View Standing (from Sketchbook), Francis William Edmonds American, Graphite on off-white wove paper, American
Two Studies of a Dog: Lying Down and Rear View Standing (from Sketchbook)
Francis William Edmonds
ca. 1838 and after
Interior Scene and Study of a Dog (from Sketchbook), Francis William Edmonds American, Graphite on off-white wove paper, American
Interior Scene and Study of a Dog (from Sketchbook)
Francis William Edmonds
ca. 1838 and after
Two Studies of a Dog: Lying Down and Three Quarter Rear View Standing (from Sketchbook), Francis William Edmonds American, Graphite on, off-white wove paper, American
Two Studies of a Dog: Lying Down and Three Quarter Rear View Standing (from Sketchbook)
Francis William Edmonds
ca. 1838 and after
Two Studies of a Dog: Three Quarter Rear View Standing; Lying Down (from Sketchbook), Francis William Edmonds American, Graphite on off-white wove paper, American
Two Studies of a Dog: Three Quarter Rear View Standing; Lying Down (from Sketchbook)
Francis William Edmonds
ca. 1838 and after

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