Peter Hurd (1904-1984)

Peter Hurd was married to Henriette Wyeth, the daughter of famed American Illustrator and artist N.C. Wyeth, and sister of American Realist Andrew Wyeth. In addition to his work with cowboy subjects, the artist was drawn to Regional themes, subjects such as dances, circuses and travelling preachers, as exhibited by the present work. The painting depicts a crowd celebrating a baptism, perhaps a group who have arrived in the West relatively recently, with an interest in establishing new customs. Another tempera on this theme titled Baptising at Three Wells is in the collection of the Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia, and was also made into a lithograph.