Harold Rudolph (American/Louisiana, 1850-1884), "Barnyard", oil on canvas, signed lower left, 10 1/8 in. x 16 1/8 in., framed, overall 14 in. x 20 in. x 2 in. Note: Active in the 1870s and 1880s, Harold Rudolph was praised for his landscapes and portraits by New Orleans newspapers shortly after his arrival in 1873. Following the death of his brother-in-law and partner in portrait painting in 1877, Rudolph focused primarily on scenes of the Louisiana countryside, although relatively few of his landscapes exist today. The work offered here is a particularly rare scene from Rudolph depicting a working farmyard under the shadow of a classic moss-draped oak. As the workers take a brief respite, the implements of daily farm life surround them in carefully composed detail. The pastoral beauty of Louisiana’s landscape is relegated to the background, while the genre scene is moved to the foreground.