At the twenty-fifth annual exhibition of the National Academy of Design in 1850, Francis William Edmonds (1806–1863) exhibited two paintings, Courtship in New Amsterdam and The Two Culprits, his first submissions since 1848. Horace Greeley visited the exhibition on May 1st and restricted himself to commentary on but “a few pictures that pleased me” in his editorial of the following day. Greeley thought that Edmonds’ entry, Courtship in New Amsterdam, was “full of quaint, deep humor” and admitted to initially mistaking it as from the hand of William Sidney Mount.1 Four days later, however, a review appeared that included a criticism of the work:
