DESCRIPTION OF DUNLAP'S PAINTING OF THE CHRIST REJECTED [caption title]

Dunlap, William

Verlag: [N.p., 1822

Broadside, 11 1/2 x 9 inches. Lightly and evenly toned. Some light soiling, minor foxing. Small hole in top corner, not affecting text. Manuscript notation on verso. Good plus. Broadside describing William Dunlap's painting, CHRIST REJECTED (1822), with a line noting that admission is 25 cents, though a ticket "admitting the bearer at all times during the Exhibition" is 50 cents. Dunlap (1766-1839) was a dramatist, historian, and painter, authoring numerous stage plays and managing a theatre company. Born in New Jersey, the son of a merchant, Dunlap had little formal schooling, but trained as a painter, eventually studying with Benjamin West. While in London, however, he primarily reveled in the theatre scene, writing and producing his first play in 1787 upon his return to New York. He became a managing partner in the American Company in 1796, an organization which eventually went bankrupt. Though he returned officially to his painting career, he flirted with the theatre on and off for financial reasons until 1811, though he continued to write plays. "As his principal biographer, Oral Sumner Coad, has noted, Dunlap was a man of moderate innate talent but of seemingly unlimited versatility, energy, and enthusiasm, who participated in practically all of the significant cultural activities of his day" - ANB. He is considered to be one of the fathers of American drama. He also wrote several histories on the American theatre and the first book on the history of the fine arts in the United States, HISTORY OF THE ARTS OF DESIGN. During the 1820s, Dunlap produced a series of large-scale exhibition paintings based on the life of Christ, among which is the painting described in the present broadside. "The picture represents the events which took place when Pilate brought forth Jesus from the Judgment Hall to the Pavement crowned with thorns, and in the gorgeous robe with which he had been arrayed by Herod." The broadside goes on to describe the various groups of people assembled and their place amongst the throng on the canvas. All of Dunlap's large exhibition paintings have perished and are known only through descriptions such as this, excepting CHRIST REJECTED, which is also known in one small- scale study located at the Princeton Art Museum. ANB (online). Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers WRCAM47498

Bibliografische Details

Titel: DESCRIPTION OF DUNLAP'S PAINTING OF THE ...
Verlag: [N.p.
Erscheinungsdatum: 1822