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Breaking Home Ties, by Thomas Hovendon.
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Oil on canvas painting of a family gathered in the home saying goodbye to their departing son, who is leaving home to go earn a living. Mother and son are the central figures. Father's back faces the viewer as he heads to the doorway, while carrying the son's bag. Younger siblings appear melancholy, as does Grandmother, who sits at the family dining table. Even the expression of the family pet dog shows concern.

Credit: Courtesy of Philadelphia Museum of Art, Given by Ellen Harrison McMichael, in memory of C. Emory McMichael.

Voted the most popular painting at the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, Thomas Hovendon's Breaking Home Ties captured the drama of the separation of families by showing a young son leaving the family farm to make a living in the city.

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