OCR Text |
Show f I4 y , f k: - w )? VEAL ORGYW OF WILLARD'S rx HISTORIC PMWfiG 7 . j. 0 5T0U know who painted I llW "The ytiiwt of 'To"? j M M Do .you know how oM ItWrS Ask these questions or jyygggji the average American an: VjaoaiisJ lie will shake his head. He knows the picture well enough. for lie has peon it hundreds of times. Perhaps he grew up in a home in which a lithograpned copy of it occupied a prominent place. In Fourth of July parades, too. he has seen living reproductions of it, but further than his ability to recognise recog-nise It he knows but little of its origin or of the artist who conceived It. This picture which has stirred tr.- .patriotic sentiments of the nation was first exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial exposition in 3876. It was the work of a soldier, Archibald JJ. Willard, who saw service with (he Union forces during the Civil war. Willard never divw any otiier picture which could compare in popularity with that single effort. Upon this one canvas alone rests his fai.ie. Furthermore, Further-more, the work came dangerously near being nothing more Hum n caricature, cari-cature, to live for brief time and be quickly forgotten. "The Spirit of "TO" never caused a sensation as a work of art. says the New York World, but ach'eved its univer.-al popularity solely through its forceful appeal to the valor, manhood, man-hood, and love of country that is rooted in the heart of every true American citizen'. King experts criticized it as being historically inaccurate, for the banner ban-ner used by the colonial soldiers in 1776 had the crosses of Saint George imd Saint Andrew in the canton, whereas Willard drew an ensign containing con-taining thirteen stars, and this device de-vice was not originated until June, 1777. Mr. Willard once said : "My picture was not painted in commemoration of ITiG, or 1S7G, or any other special period in the life of the nation, but as an expression of the vital and ever-living ever-living spirit of American patriotism." Morn August 22, 1S3S, In Bedford, a small town west of Cleveland, Ohio, Willard showed a fondness for drawing draw-ing and painting from his boyhood days. His career as an artist did not begin, be-gin, however, until as late as 1S72. At that time he was following his trade in Wellington, Ohio, as a carriage maker, a trade to which he had been, apprenticed as a youth. The actual work of constructing coaches did not P!eal to him so much as the highly ! ' Interesting task of painting the fln-; fln-; Mud product in the elaborate fashion j f that day. His skill with the brush I Wus acknowledged by his associates, nd lie would drnv little brightly col- ored sketches on the side of a carriage car-riage that frequently would attract the fancy of a prospective buyer. At tlie suggestion of his employer "illard one day undertook to pro-1 "hire "something cheerful, something rimiic." This undertaking resulted in ; "is first popular picture, brought his work to the attention of Cleveland's trading photographer, 'and freed him forever from the labor of wagon-i wagon-i making. "Pluck Number One" wns the title j n to this crention, and it suc-I suc-I weded with the public largely because 11 realistically portrayed childish eag--ess and action. Willard's three chil-: chil-: wn, their soap-box cart, and their lamiiy jog, g,,ve the nrti.,t his idea 'or the sketch. It showed vividly the Joungsters' wild ride, trying their If ' ' x ' Ml . ' J, y" 1 i t-l " " ' ,t , s ' " , ' - ' ' : " iV " V & v ' j f ' 1 ? i r b J ' J; , 4 , ' x Jt best to maintain their balance in the little wagon tossing this way and that as the dog, to which It was harnessed, was giving chase to a suddenly aroused rabbit. An official of the wagon works liked the picture so well that he wanted It framed, and sent it to Cleveland for that purpose. There It came to the attention at-tention of the city's leading art dealer deal-er and photographer, James F. Ryder, who immediately classed it as a "find." As soon 'as the drawing had been framed, Eyder personally carried car-ried it back to Wellington to make the acquaintance of the artist. He was somewhat surprised to meet the originator of "Pluck Number One" on the second floor of the wagon shop, but, undaunted, inquired immediately, "How did the race come out?" Realizing that words could not convey con-vey a satisfactory answer, Willard laid aside his overalls, and got bnsy painting his answer. "Pluck Number Two" was speedily evolved. It showed that the dog had won. The art dealer was quick to capitalize cap-italize the twin pictures. Chromos were the fad then, and the dealer had WiHard's pictures copyrighted with the artist as half owner. Before long ten thousand copies had been sold, convincing Ryder that he had discovered dis-covered a man of talent. He went ahead planning new ventures' for his protege. Leaving Wellington, Willard set up a studio in Cleveland in 1S73. For a while he devoted his time to the drawing of cartoons, many of which appeared in the country's leading newspapers. Now for his masterpiece, "The Spirit of '7G." About a year before the opening of the exposition celebrating cele-brating the one hundredth anniversary anni-versary of the signing of tlie Declaration Declara-tion of Independence, the enterprising Ryder was looking for something that would be appropriate for such an occasion. oc-casion. Finally it came to him. It was, as he explained it to Willard, "Yankee Poodle just put Yankee Poodle into something, the more original the better. bet-ter. Go to it and get it ready before the big show opens." The first method of treatment which naturally occurred to both men was along the line of the caricatures which they had produced so successfully success-fully up to that time. In telling about it afterward, Willard said that "the mention of Yankee Doodle photographed photo-graphed on my mind three things : the flag, the fife, and the drum, and a background naturally presented Itself." Willard's children had provided the material that Inspired his first artistic success in "Pluck Number One." His father was to provide the inspiration for the production of his masterpiece. This aged gentleman had come from Wellington to pose for his son. One day .while working on his outline of Yankee Doodle he caught a glint in the older man's eye, and In a flash It was revealed to him what Yankee Doodle really meant. "I could not go ahead any farther with the burlesque Idea," the artist said. "The real pic-, ture pushed everything else aside, and went ahead and painted Itself." Willard's father, who thus aided so greatly In the creation of the "Spirit of '70," was a Baptist minister, Rev. Daniel Willard. Born in Vermont In 1S01, the elder Willard was in his seventy-fourth year when he posed for the central figure In the group The original fifer was one Hugh Jloser, a resident of a small town near Cleveland. Rejected because of his age during the Civil war, he was nevertheless nev-ertheless considered essential at all patriotic gatherings in the neighborhood, neighbor-hood, where his fifing was famous. The drummer boy was posed by Harry K. Devereux, a Cleveland lad. Ills father, Gen. J. H. Devereux. a prominent railway president, bought the painting after its showing In Philadelphia, Phil-adelphia, Washington, Boston, and other cities. The general presented H to his native town of JIarblehead, Mass.. where it was hung in Abbot hall library. The picture Itself is eight feet wide and ten feet high. It was begun during dur-ing 1S73 in the studio of Willis Adams-In Adams-In Euclid avenue. Cleveland. It was oflieially unveiled at the centennial the next year. Its first name. "Yankee Doodle," was changed while the work was on exhibition in Boston to it? present title, "The Spirit of '70." J . i |