Eel Spearing at Setauket

William Sidney Mount

1845 · Oil on canvas · Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown

Size4:3 ratio

Frame

$39Unframed print · made to order

📦 Free shipping on every order, arriving in 4–9 business days with production included. Express ($14.90) at checkout arrives in 4–6 business days.

Complete the setHangs well with these two

This print

Eel Spearing at Setauket

Swimming (The Swimming Hole)

Eight Bells

3 × $39 at 16 × 12 in, unframed = $117 → $105.30 as a set · 10% included · free shipping

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Giclée-printed to order on heavyweight matte fine-art paper

Free shipping worldwide · arrives in 4–9 business days

Arrives perfect or we reprint it — free

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About this work

Artist: William Sidney Mount (1807–1868)
Year: 1845
Medium: Oil on canvas
Original size: 72.4 × 91.4 cm
Collection: Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown
Movement: Realism

A Black woman stands in the bow of a flat-bottomed boat on still water, poised with a long eel spear, while a boy sits in the stern steering with a paddle, against the low hills and white houses of Setauket on Long Island. Mount, who spent his life in the neighbouring village of Stony Brook, painted it for a patron who remembered eel spearing there as a child. The glassy water doubles the figures and the boat in reflection. Often counted among the finest American genre paintings, it is in the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York.

This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.

Where it works

A calm sandy-gold waterside scene for a living room, study or lake house in a dark wood frame. It suits cream, sage or warm grey walls at 16×12 and pairs with Bingham's Fur Traders Descending the Missouri.

Style, size & framing detail

Style: Realism painting
Era: 19th century (1845)
Orientation: Landscape
Mood: classic
Rooms: living room, study or library, dining room
Good gift for: housewarming, art lovers

Size. We'd hang this one at 16×12. Prints at 16×12 in — 16×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid.

Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; dark wood warms it.

Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).

Details & materials

• Restored in-house from the original painting — cleaned and colour-trued at museum resolution • Heavyweight matte fine-art paper, giclée printed at 300 DPI • Sizes: 16×12 in; every size also available framed • Framed option: wood frame in black or dark wood, 12 mm wide and 22 mm deep, with a plexiglass front and no mat; the print is mounted inside and the frame's outside measures the listed size • Made to order; colours may vary slightly from screen

Shipping & returns

Printed after you order at the facility nearest you, then shipped. Standard delivery is free and takes 4–9 business days from order to door in the US, UK and EU (up to 10 elsewhere); Express takes 4–6 business days. Because each print is made to order we don't take change-of-mind returns, but if it arrives damaged or flawed we'll reprint or refund it — no return needed. Full policy →

Is this the whole painting, or a crop?

The whole work, uncropped. The image fills the print at the painting's own proportions; nothing is trimmed to fit a frame.

Is Eel Spearing at Setauket in the public domain?

Yes. William Sidney Mount (1807–1868) died more than 70 years ago and the work was published before 1929, so the painting itself is public domain. This print is a reproduction made from a high-resolution scan of the original, which is held by Fenimore Art Museum.

What is it printed on?

Heavyweight matte fine-art paper with pigment inks, made to order in 16×12 inches; every size is also offered framed in black or dark wood, with plexiglass and no mat. Colours are matched to the scan, not brightened.

When was Eel Spearing at Setauket painted, and in what medium?

Eel Spearing at Setauket dates from 1845 and was made in oil on canvas; the original measures 72.4 × 91.4 cm.

What size works above a sofa or bed?

Across a three-seat sofa or a queen bed, 16×12 is the size that reads as one statement piece. For Eel Spearing at Setauket we'd choose 16×12. It is a landscape print, wider than it is tall, at the painting's own proportions.

About this design

Eel Spearing at Setauket (William Sidney Mount) — Eel Spearing at Setauket · William Sidney Mount · 1845. This is a fine-art reproduction of a public-domain masterwork, shown whole and uncropped on a gallery ground, printed to order on heavyweight matte fine-art paper. Every size is offered unframed or framed in black or dark wood. Part of the Madten Fine Art Collection. — — — Printed to order and shipped by our production partner, Gelato.

Buy with confidence

The Madten promise

Gallery-grade archival giclée. Rich pigment inks on heavyweight fine-art paper (or gallery-wrapped canvas) — built to last, not a poster-shop print.

Arrives perfect or we reprint it — free. Every piece is made to order; if it shows up damaged or flawed we remake it, no return needed.

Free worldwide shipping. Made & shipped from the facility nearest you — most orders arrive in 4–9 business days.

Secure checkout. Payments handled by Stripe; we never see or store your card.

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