MFA Spotlight Series – serie

American patriot Paul Revere is wrapped in the swirling mixture of myth and poetry through which history often descends, but as a craftsman and artist, he left behind more tangible traces, as well. In this volume, esteemed art historian Gerald W. R. Ward tells the true story of Revere’s most iconic creation, the Sons of Liberty bowl, bravely made and marked by the rebel and silversmith on the threshold of the Revolutionary War. John Singleton Copley’s portrait of Revere, created the same year, 1768, helps introduce the man he was and the legend he became. The painting and the silver bowl are both popularly reproduced and have joined re-tellings of his Midnight Ride to define Revere in the American imagination, in turn signifying the Revolution and the young country’s values.

A stunning stained glass window becomes a lens through which to view the career of Louis Comfort Tiffany and intersecting arcs of art and design in America.The story of the Parakeets stained glass window – from national and international recognition to years of obscurity, followed by a return to the limelight – parallels the public reception of the art of its maker, Louis Comfort Tiffany, who had one of the most recognized names in American art at the turn of the twentieth century. It is a story of artistic ambition and experimentation, of nationalist pride and promotion, and of the capricious nature of public opinion and the art market. A careful study of the fabrication, imagery, and life of the window offers an intimate look into the legacy of Tiffany, as well as the nineteenth-century revival of the lesser-known medium of stained glass, which some argue was the United States’ first major contribution to the international art world.

On the night of 25 December 1776, George Washington led his ragged Continental Army through a snowstorm across the Delaware River, on the way to a surprise attack that would turn the tide of the American Revolution. More than forty years later, the ambitious young painter Thomas Sully chose this dramatic moment as the subject of a portrait of the founding father. He combined careful research into contemporary sources, compositional models drawn from European and American history paintings, and his own flair for theatricality to create a monumental panorama. In it, a dramatically lighted Washington urges on the troops from the back of a magnificent white steed, while his troops contend with the wintry river crossing below. The Passage of the Delaware, the first large-scale painting of this iconic moment, was created in the early years of the burgeoning cult of George Washington, when American artists, writers, and politicians evoked the heroic deeds of the founding fathers to foster a sense of national purpose and unity. This compact introduction to the painting reveals how Sully’s imagination, technique, and ambition came together to embody the drama of the Revolution and the character of its leaders.