Posted 12 years ago
filmnet
(476 items)
My Wife remembers this painting in her Grandmothers house in 1960s it was clean then, a family member took it home after she died. They think this is worth a lot of money, they had it in the attic hot summers dried the paint. And they got cut in it? The faces are painted bad as you can see the eyes look crazy also. The frame is really old.
this is a really beautful piece of patriotic folk art. that 'bad', 'crazy eye' is part of the charm of folk art. also, the very odd perspective of the on-looker at the bottom of the picture gives it extra-special charm, in my opinion. the damage is regrettable, but i hope that you get it restored and preserved because it really is an interesting piece w/ probable commercial as well as historical value [although i have NO idea what that might mean].
The original painting i photographed for the city Marblehead, See it here i posted it here the other day. It was painted in 1879 this one has 25 stars, the original has no stars.
It looks like quite a treasure. I'd have it professionally appraised by someone specializing in 18th century folk art. It looks like it was stored, not only in a hot place, but probably something was leaning against it to cause it to rip. Although I'm sure the damage could have been caused by any number of things. It's really awesome! I love it!
i just looked him up and found this interesting info on wikipedia:
Willard's most famous work is The Spirit of '76 (previously known as Yankee Doodle), which was exhibited at the Centennial Exposition. The original is displayed in Abbot Hall, Massachusetts, with several later variations painted by Willard exhibited around the country (including in the United States Department of State). Of note, he used his father as the model for the middle character of the painting.
[edit]In popular culture
The painting is referred to in a scene of Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse Five where the protagonist Billy Pilgrim walks through a POW camp near Dresden. Billy is thus described: "Billy was carrying his little coat as though it were a lady's muff. It was wrapped around and around his hands. He was the central clown in an unconscious travesty of that famous oil painting, The Spirit of '76."
I photographed the painting for the city in Abbot Hall, this city is right beside our town they moved the huge glass off the front and it took a day to set up lights to shot this, I a pro photographer
Just found a list of what our relative left in our house when she died 1916. This painting was on the list, she traveled around the world 1890s . With her husband Captain of the last Clipper ships, she brought a ton of antiques home every time she traveled. China, Australia, India, South Africa so this was painted anywhere. The frame looks like some here the wood.