The Speculator

A rural couple listens skeptically to a representative of the Building Association, identified by the paper in his coat pocket. The salesman—whose top hat, pointed shoes, and umbrella mark him as a city slicker—promises the couple a better life as he unrolls a listing of "1000 Valuable Lots on Rail Road Ave." Francis William Edmonds's comic genre scenes captured the rough-and-tumble of America's frontiers. Democracy meant opportunity for all, and there were plenty of opportunities to fleece the unwary in settlements governed by few laws. Land speculators flourished as the railroads raced West and small towns dreamed of growing into great cities.

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006

About the painting

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Neighbors at Smithsonian American Art Museum

On the same theme · Cooking

Unknown

What it shows

In the catalog

Sources

Preparing for Christmas (Plucking Turkeys)

The Bashful Cousin

Sammy the Tailor.

Muskrat, before 1997

Cane with Boot-Shaped Handle, late 19th-early 20th century

San Jose, late 19th-early 20th century

Nuestra Senora del Carmen, ca. late 19th-early 20th century

San Rafael, late 19th-early 20th century

Worrying Mother Pig Toy, 20th century (pre-1960s)

Bright Light at Russell's Corners, 1946

Fish Decoy, ca. 1940s

Peasant Woman Cooking by a Fireplace, 1885

Colonel Prow and Girlfriend Cooking, Beijing, China, 1948

Crêpes, 1761/1763

Kitchen Scene, ca. 1794–95

Old Woman at a Stove (Vielle Femme au Fourneau), 1893

The Cook, c. 1892/1893

Arches National Park, 1974

Pescaditos de Oaxaca, México (Little Fish From Oaxaca, Mexico), 1992