The Devil And Tom Walker's Flight

Quidor’s style changed over time, most notably, following his return to New York in 1851. “He simplified his compositions and used a narrower range of colors, which he thinned with varnish so that his stylized, nervously rendered figures nearly disappeared into hazy backgrounds” (6). Some examples of his later style include The Devil and Tom Walker and Tom Walker’s Flight; both paintings were created in 1856.
In The Devil and Tom Walker, Tom walker is depicted in his first encounter with the devil incarnate (7). Tom walker is standing in the foreground leaning on his cane. His coat and pants are a light color in contrast with the background. The devil is in sitting on a log in the background. The only noticeably different color between the devil and the background is the red sash draped around him. The entire painting, aside from Tom Walker’s clothes, is a blend of brown and green.
In Tom Walker’s Flight, Tom Walker is pictured fleeing from his house on horseback as the

devil comes to fulfill his end of the bargain, and claim Tom’s soul (7). Some of the on looking characters are wearing colorful clothing; however, the painting seems to have been washed in sepia. The bluish, brown sky fades into the brown-grey color of the street and houses. Even Tom Walker’s attire seems to be overtaken by the dominant brown color of the painting.
Both of these paintings show a sharp contrast to Quidor’s earlier style.

His once colorful and vibrant paintings have now been drowned by in a haze of a single, dark color as described above. Although Quidor’s painting technique changed, he still uses his paintings to convey his humor and poke fun at the human vices and emotions. In The Devil and Tom Walker, Tom walker is giving into his greed, and striking a deal with the devil. A skull is pictured on the ground in the forgotten and forsaken swamp, foreshadowing that anyone who makes a deal with the devil will, in turn, be forgotten. In Tom walker’s Flight, the devil has come to claim Tom Walker’s soul. Quidor displays the humor in the irony that Tom Walker, who made a deal with the devil to accumulate wealth, position, and property, is now leaving it all behind in an attempt to save himself. Quidor uses these, and other paintings to emphasize the mortal fear people have of supernatural evil, and the consequences of greed

(7).