HOUSE BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD – Reverse Painting

THE HOUSE BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD

A Reverse Painting:

Let me live in a house by the side of the road.
Where the race of men go by,
The men who are bad and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner’s seat
Or hurl the cynic’s ban.
Let me live in a house by the side of the road,
And be a friend to man.

by Sam Walter Foss

THE HOUSE ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD is painted in reverse, the background is printed on paper and set behind painted glass with space between them, 3-D.

Another term used to refer to the art of “cold painting” and gilding on the back of glass is verre églomisé, named after the French decorator Jean-Baptiste Glomy (1711–1786).

The frame and motto are original and at some point, the original dust cover paper was adhered to another and then glued to the frame’s back (very well done), The brass hanger was added sometime later as well.

An original label is glued not stamped to the paper backing. The label reads:

THE HOUSE BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD
Printed by The Buzza Company
Minneapolis, Minn., U.S.A.
by arrangement with
Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co.
From “Dreams in Homespun”
Copyright, 1897

7 3/4” x 10 3/4”

Lee & Shepard was a publishing and bookselling firm in the 19th century. In 1905 Lee & Shepard merged with the Lothrop Company to form Lothrop, Lee & Shepard.