Description: This is a lovely and Fine Antique Old American Folk Art Patriotic Betsy Ross George Washington Painting, Gouache on Artist Board, depicting the unveiling of the famous 13-star flag American flag designed by Betsy Ross (1752 - 1836) to General George Washington (1732 - 1799,) her husband Major George Ross (1730 - 1779), and Robert Morris (1734 - 1806.) This artwork is after Jean Leon Gerome Ferris's (1863 - 1930) famous and well-received original oil painting, "Betsy Ross, 1777," completed in the early 1900's, which was part of his historical 78 Depictions of Significant Moments in American History series, also titled The Pageant of a Nation. The historical subjects of this series spanned from 1492 - 1865, beginning with the earliest arrival of the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock. In this artwork, set in the fine parlor of a private home, Betsy Ross shows Major Ross and Robert Morris how she cut the stars for the American flag. George Washington sits in a chair to the left of the scene and sweetly interacts with a young child holding a doll. This painting is unsigned, but perhaps you know more about the artist or their work? Approximately 21 3/4 x 27 3/4 inches (including frame.) Actual artwork is approximately 18 x 24 inches. Good condition for age, with some mild scuffing, edge wear and gilding loss to the original period early 20th century gilded wood frame (please see photos.) Acquired from an old collection in Los Angeles County, California, but I suspect that this piece originates from the Northeastern United States. If you like what you see, I encourage you to make an Offer. Please check out my other listings for more wonderful and unique artworks! About Jean Leon Gerome Ferris: Jean Leon Gerome Ferris Born: 1863 - Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaDied: 1930 - Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaKnown for: History, genre, illustration, etching. Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863 - 1930) was active/lived in Pennsylvania. Jean Ferris is known for History, genre, illustration, etching. Jean Leon Gerome Ferris was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1863, when the Civil War was raging. Historical painter, illustrator, etcher, he created work that is in Congress Hall in Philadelphia.Ferris was the pupil of his father, the portrait painter Stephen James Ferris, a devotee of Jean Leon Gerome and Mariano Fortuny. His mother's brother was Thomas Moran, so the atmosphere for an adolescent was fine art.He studied in Spain in 1881, and in 1884, under William Adolphe Bouguereau at the Julian Academy in Paris, where he received the impetus to concentrate on historical painting. Until 1900 he prepared himself by traveling and sketching in England, France, Spain, Morocco and Belgium, specializing in historical analyses of architecture, customs, and dress as they might apply to the U.S.He also investigated early American vehicles and boats, constructing accurate miniatures he gave to the New York Museum. Toward the end of his life, in 1927, he was able to donate to the National Museum the most important print collection the museum had had, 3,000 pieces of graphics of the 16th through the 19 centuries.About 1900, Ferris began the seventy historical paintings intended to depict consecutively the story of the American people from 1492 to 1865. The paintings cover early settlements through the nation's development, up to Abraham Lincoln. Indian and Western subjects were included. Two later additions were made, with scenes of 1902 and 1917. The collection was hung in Philadelphia's Congress in 1930 in a gallery built for the purpose.It is said that Ferris was droll, genial, and witty, and that he lived a fruitful and happy life. ​Jean Leon Gerome Ferris was a 19th-century painter. He was known for painting scenes from American history. He was born in Philadelphia in 1863, and he painted 78 depictions of significant moments in American history. Ferris was referred to at the time as a “painter historian.” His paintings and illustrations depicted noteworthy moments in U.S. history, such as when William Penn was welcomed by friendly Indigenous people, shown in The Landing of William Penn — 1682. About Betsy Ross: Perhaps the best-known figure from the American Revolutionary era who wasn’t a president, general or statesman, Betsy Ross (1752-1836) became a patriotic icon in the late 19th century when stories surfaced that she had sewn the first “stars and stripes” U.S. flag in 1776. Though that story is likely apocryphal, Ross is known to have sewn flags during the Revolutionary War. Elizabeth Griscom was born on January 1, 1752, in Gloucester City, New Jersey. She was the eighth of 17 children. Her parents, Rebecca James Griscom and Samuel Griscom were both Quakers. The daughter of generations of craftsmen (her father was a house carpenter), young Betsy attended a Quaker school and was then apprenticed to William Webster, an upholsterer. In Webster’s workshop, she learned to sew mattresses, chair covers and window blinds. Did you know? An 1871 pamphlet enthusiastically not only credited Betsy Ross for designing the first U.S. flag, but for coming up with the name "United States of America" and writing a hymn that was the basis for the French anthem "La Marseillaise." (There is no evidence to support either of those claims.) In 1773, at age 21, Betsy crossed the river to New Jersey, to elope with John Ross, a fellow apprentice of Webster’s and the son of an Episcopal rector—a double act of defiance that got her expelled from the Quaker church. The Rosses started their own upholstery shop, and John joined the militia. He died after barely two years of marriage. Though family legend would attribute John’s death to a gunpowder explosion, illness is a more likely culprit. The Story of the Betsy Ross Flag In the summer of 1776 (or possibly 1777) Betsy Ross, newly widowed, is said to have received a visit from General Geroge Washington regarding a design for a flag for the new nation. Washington and the Continental Congress had come up with the basic layout, but, according to legend, Betsy allegedly finalized the design, arguing for stars with five points (Washington had suggested six) because the cloth could be folded and cut out with a single snip.The tale of Washington’s visit to Ross was first made public in 1870, nearly a century later, by Betsy Ross’s grandson. However, the flag’s design was not fixed until later than 1776 or 1777. Charles Wilson Peale’s 1779 painting of George Washington following the 1777 Battle of Princeton features a flag with six-pointed stars.Betsy Ross was making flags around that time—a receipt shows that the Pennsylvania State Navy Board paid her 15 pounds for sewing ship’s standards. But similar receipts exist for Philadelphia seamstresses Margaret Manning (from as early as 1775), Cornelia Bridges (1776) and Rebecca Young, whose daughter Mary Pickersgill would sew the mammoth flag that later inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner." Betsy Ross: Later Life, Work and Children In June 1777, Betsy married Joseph Ashburn, a sailor, with whom she had two daughters. In 1782 Ashburn was apprehended while working as a privateer in the West Indies and died in a British prison. A year later, Betsy married John Claypoole, a man who had grown up with her in Philadelphia’s Quaker community and had been imprisoned in England with Ashburn. A few months after their wedding, the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Revolutionary War. They went on to have five daughters.Over the next decades, Betsy Claypoole and her daughters sewed upholstery and made flags, banners and standards for the new nation. In 1810 she made six 18-by-24-foot garrison flags to be sent to New Orleans; the next year she made 27 flags for the Indian Department. She spent her last decade in quiet retirement, her vision failing, and died in 1836, at age 84. Betsy Ross: A Legacy Unfurled The records of the U.S. flag’s origins are fragmentary in part because at the time Americans were indifferent to flags as national relics. “The Star-Spangled Banner” was written in 1812 but did not become popular until the 1840s. As the 1876 U.S. Centennial approached, enthusiasm for the flag increased.It was in that environment, in 1870, that Betsy Claypoole’s grandson William Canby presented the family tale to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. At the time several claims on the first flag were surfacing, ranging from other Philadelphia seamstresses to a New Hampshire quilting bee said to have fashioned the banner out of cut-up gowns.Most such stories, however wishfully sourced, expressed a national desire for symbols of female Revolutionary patriotism, of women materially supporting their fighting men and (just perhaps) showing George Washington a better way to make a star.
Price: 2750 USD
Location: Orange, California
End Time: 2024-08-24T23:39:41.000Z
Shipping Cost: 45 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Artist: Unknown
Size: Large
Signed: No
Period: Historicism (1850-1900)
Material: Gouache, Artist Board
Framing: Framed
Region of Origin: California, USA
Subject: Children & Infants, Community Life, Costumes, Family, Figures, Ladies, Men, Military, Monument, Presidents, Silhouettes, States & Counties, Still Life, Uniforms, USA, Women, Working Life, George Washington, Revolutionary War
Type: Painting
Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original
Item Height: 21 3/4 in
Style: Americana, Figurative Art, Folk Art, Portraiture
Theme: Americana, Architecture, Art, Cities & Towns, Conflicts & Wars, Continents & Countries, Domestic & Family Life, Events & Festivals, Famous Places, Fashion, Floral, History, Patriotic, People, Politics, Portrait, Social History
Features: One of a Kind (OOAK)
Production Technique: Gouache Painting
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Item Width: 27 3/4 in
Handmade: Yes
Time Period Produced: 1850-1899
