# A Builder of Boats

- By: John George Brown (American, born England, 1831–1913)
- Date: c. 1904
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Framed: 98 x 120 x 11 cm (38 9/16 x 47 1/4 x 4 5/16 in.); Unframed: 80 x 101.6 cm (31 1/2 x 40 in.)
- Culture: United States
- Credit line: Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1972.905)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/cma/1972.905/1972.905_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Brown's preference for rural subjects in a time when the United States was undergoing rapid industrialization suggests nostalgia for the past. Indeed, A Builder of Boats, an image of an elderly craftsman working alone with hand tools in a tranquil setting replete with his sleeping dog, offered its contemporary audience a distinct alternative to mechanized factory production.