Barking Up the Wrong Tree
About 1852 _ 1853
Francis William Edmonds, a banker by day and painter by night, serves up a slice of 1850s humor with this rustic domestic scene. A bewildered gentleman sits clutching his hat and umbrella, looking like a suitor who has just realized he's made a social blunder, while the woman opposite him sews with a serene, almost mischievous smile. The title is a brilliant visual pun: although a black dog sits loyally by the man's feet, it is the man himself who is metaphorically 'barking up the wrong tree' in his courtship.
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