Art, literature & history
Cows in a Pond at Sunset
1860
- Dating
- Exact year
- Held at
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 19.1 × 35.9 cm (7 1/2 × 14 1/8 in.)
- Collection no.
- 1988.317
- Attribution
- By the artist
- Image rights
- CC0 1.0License details
Sanford Robinson Gifford. Cows in a Pond at Sunset. Art Institute of Chicago. CC0 1.0. Compressed full-frame reproduction.
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
About this artwork
Cows in a Pond at Sunset — Sanford Robinson Gifford. 1860.
Medium: Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 19.1 × 35.9 cm (7 1/2 × 14 1/8 in.).
Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.
Landscape painter Sanford Robinson Gifford portrayed the glowing light of sunset with brief brushstrokes and a limited, terracotta palette in this small oil sketch. With gradated bands of color, the artist captured the transitory moment’s golden, expansive sky and its reflection on the watering hole below. The bucolic scene evokes the tranquility and romance of nature. Across the pond, a home in the wilderness indicates man’s harmonious relation to the land.
Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.
Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.
Location checked Sep 10, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.