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"The spirit of '76": Some recollections of the artist and the painting cover

"The spirit of '76": Some recollections of the artist and the painting

Chapter 3: Illustrations
By Henry Kelsey Devereux
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ArtBiographiesHistory - American

About This Book

An eyewitness account blends personal recollections with a brief biography of Archibald M. Willard and an account of the conception, preliminary sketches, and later replicas of his widely reproduced patriotic trio painting. The author describes Willard's early life, training, work as a decorative and wagon painter, and friendship with a photographic publisher that aided the image's dissemination. Individual figures who posed for the fife and drum roles are profiled and an early contemporary account by a close associate is included. The volume also documents surviving preparatory studies, official reproductions, and the painting's reception and distribution.

Illustrations

The Spirit of ’76 Frontispiece
Reproduced from the original painting now
hanging in the Town Hall at Marblehead,
Massachusetts. This reproduction is accurate
as to details, and reproduces the original colors
as closely as possible. Some years ago, on account
of the demand for reproductions of this
painting and the danger of damage to the
valuable original, by a vote of the town of
Marblehead, action was taken that no further
reproductions from the original should be permitted;
hence, many of the reproductions now
available are not reproductions of the original
painting but of one or other of the later replicas.
These replicas differ in many respects from the
original, both as to details and coloring.
Archibald M. Willard 23
“Yankee Doodle” 29
Willard’s original conception for the humorous
painting submitted to J. F. Ryder, as reproduced
by Willard in 1898 and presented to The Reverend
William E. Barton, in whose possession
it still remains.
Hugh Mosher 41
Henry Kelsey Devereux 49
The Reverend Samuel Willard 63
The Final Preliminary Crayon Study Sketch 73
Showing one of the stages in the final evolution
of the finished painting. Believed to be the
only study sketch now in existence. Presented
by Willard to Doctor Barton and still in his possession.