Rereading Seymour Joseph Guy's Making a Train.

The article analyzes the painting "Making a Train," by U.S. painter Seymour Joseph Guy, primarily focusing on the ways in which the work commented upon 19th-century women's fashion, consumer culture, and vanity. The author then discusses possible literary influences for Guy's painting and his views on the aforementioned characteristics in general, including the poetry of English writer Henry Gardiner Adams, a novel by English author George Eliot, and the work of English novelist Charles Dickens. More generally, Guy's focus on depicting the working poor is analyzed. The author also relates the extension of popular 19th-century fashion to rural areas to Guy's painting.