The Duet

Known at the "Boot Black Raphael," John George Brown is among the most celebrated nineteenth-century genre painters. Born in Durham, England, Brown immigrated to New York in 1853 where he studied at the National Academy of Design. A charming scene, The Duet was show in the National Academy of Design's first autumn exhibition, with a contemporary reviewer lauding, "Among the arrivals back in the city during the past week was J.G. Brown, who spent his summer at Neversink, Sullivan County. He brought home with him no 'studies,' but seven or eight conscientiously finished pictures, among which were three paintings in the Academy, 'The Duet,' 'He Loves Butter' and 'Among the Weeds.'" ("In Studio and Gallery," New York Daily Tribune, October 30, 1882, p. 2)

J.G. Brown scholar Martha Hoppin further writes of the present work and its juxtaposition of young and old musicians, "The title clarifies Brown's intent as a comic. Instead of playing his instrument, the boy cries, perhaps in recognition of his inferior ability but more likely at his relegation to the sidelines." (The World of J.G. Brown, Chesterfield, Massachusetts, 2010, p. 210)