Maytime

"Maytime," wrote Metcalf, “has always been a favorite of mine, in as much as I felt that I had succeeded in getting some of the elusiveness of that beautiful spring morning.” This painting exemplifies Metcalf’s ability to render the character of the individual seasons through careful observation in nature. Assigning a transcendent quality to Metcalf’s paintings, one critic explained, “He would do more than paint the portrait of a place. He would so interpret it that it disclosed the essence of our countryside everywhere.”