Joseph Foxcroft Cole (Massachusetts/California/Maine, 1837-1892) oil on artist's board painting titled "Landscape with Children" depicting two young girls on a dirt road, winding through a forest. Signed "J. Foxcroft Cole" lower left. Possible old exhibition label en verso and possible previous owner inscription "Mrs Kershaw South ___ Masschusetts". Housed in a molded gilt wood frame. Sight – 13 5/8" H x 9 1/2" W. Framed – 17 5/8" H x 13 1/2" W. American, mid/late 19th century. Provenance: Private Southern Collection. Artist biography: Barbizon school painter Joseph Foxcroft Cole was raised in Boston and, as a youth, worked with Winslow Homer when both were apprentices in a printing studio. He went to France in 1860 where he studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and with the popular painter of Normandy landscapes, Emile Lambinet. Cole was also influenced by painters Charles Jacque and William Morris Hunt along with Barbizon artists Corot, Daubigny, Diaz and Troyon. Cole exhibited his bucolic scenes frequently in America, as well as abroad in the Paris Salon and London's Royal Academy. His late work reflected the influence of Impressionism. (Source: Michael David Zellman, 300 Years of American Art). CONDITION: Overall good condition with areas of craquelure. Few areas of paint loss, largest 1/4", upper quadrant of painting. Area of loss, largest 1/2", to frame.