Artwork
The Falconer (copy after Thomas Couture)
The Falconer (copy after Thomas Couture) is an oil painting by Edward Harrison May. It dates from 1865 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Created circa 1865, this oil on canvas presents a young gentleman holding a falcon with its wings extended.
About this work
Overview
Created circa 1865, this oil on canvas presents a young gentleman holding a falcon with its wings extended. He is dressed in a black coat trimmed with a white ruffled collar and cuffs, his dark wavy hair framing a composed expression. The figure stands before a patterned wall, the composition arranged as a formal portrait that emphasizes poise and status.
Subject & Meaning
The sitter’s elegant attire and the presence of the trained bird evoke themes of aristocratic leisure and the cultivated art of falconry, a pastime historically associated with nobility. The poised gesture and the bird’s outstretched wings suggest a balance between control and natural vigor, hinting at the social ideals of refinement and mastery prevalent in mid‑nineteenth‑century portraiture.
Technique & Style
Brushwork is smooth and controlled, characteristic of academic painting, while the handling of oil allows subtle gradations of tone in the fabric and feathers.
The work employs chiaroscuro, contrasting illuminated areas of the figure and falcon against a darker background to create depth and a sense of three‑dimensionality. Brushwork is smooth and controlled, characteristic of academic painting, while the handling of oil allows subtle gradations of tone in the fabric and feathers. The decorative wall adds a modest yet patterned backdrop that frames the central figure without distracting from it.
History & Provenance
The painting is a copy after a composition by Thomas Couture, executed by Edward Harrison May Jr., an English‑American artist who spent much of his career in Paris. May, born in England in 1824 and raised in New York, shifted from engineering to art before exhibiting at the National Academy in 1844. This particular copy entered the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where it remains on view.
Artist & collection
Artist
Edward Harrison May Jr. (1824 – May 17, 1887) was an English-American painter who spent much of his career in Paris. The son of Edward Harrison May Sr., a Dutch Reformed clergyman, May was born in Croydon, England, and…
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