He worked as sign painter as well as a popular artist of portraits, landscapes, and genre scenes like the Young Artist. Burnham did the Lewis and Clark Expedition from his imagination, and many of his works are stylized and idealized types of Americana. The charm of the young boy drawing on a beer barrel to delight his friends, an old woman, and an African-American child (perhaps a servant or a slave, it remains slightly unclear) suggests that this is what true American art is -- and should resemble (Thomas Mickell Burnham, 2009, Ask Art). Burnham was also fond of popular seascapes of ships and sailors, evidently culled from his memory growing up in Boston. The value of this work is primarily to get a glimpse of what American popular art resembled, and how America saw itself -- it is both mocking the humility of the art of common people like the boy, but also mocking of those who aspire to high art. The gentleness and fun of the tone of the work and its accessibility makes a claim for art in and of itself, authored by the common people of America (Thomas Mickell Burnham, 2009, Art Net)....

The color palate is bright and cheerful; the clothing of the boys is simple and rustic yet respectable except for the exotic appearance of the African-American child. The children look casually but not shabbily cared for -- they are not underfed and desperate, their leisure is joyful. The fact the old woman does not stop them suggests that they are not doing anything 'very bad' and the uncomplicated nature of their fun is further underlined by the location of most of the action in the foreground of the work, much like a sign or a popular illustration in a magazine.
Works Cited

Burnham, Thomas. (1840). The Young Artist. Orlando Museum. Retrieved February 26, 2009 at: http://www.omart.org/collections/american-art/thomas-mickell-burnham-young

Thomas Mickell Burnham. (2009). Ask Art. Retrieved February 26, 2009 http://www.askart.com/askart/b/thomas_mickell_burnham/thomas_mickell_burnham.aspx

Thomas Mickell Burnham. (2009). Art Net. Retrieved February 26, 2009 http://www.artnet.com/artist/3364/thomas-mickell-burnham.html

Art analysis