# Cows in a Pond at Sunset

- By: Sanford Robinson Gifford (American, 1823–1880)
- Date: 1860
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 19.1 × 35.9 cm (7 1/2 × 14 1/8 in.)
- Culture: New York
- Credit line: Through prior acquisition of the Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/72398)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/ea5875fc-48ab-037d-3eec-86ccf6e9be60/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

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, CC BY 4.0