Randuwa II: Wilmington, Delaware; The Delaware Art Museum, part 2

Sunday, August 20, 2023

Wilmington, Delaware; The Delaware Art Museum, part 2

Lets continue our visit on the other side of the grand foyer in Galleries 4 to 6 titled "Picturing America." Here are works from some of the great and iconic masters of 19th and early 20th Century American Artists. Artists like Raphaelle and Rembrandt Peale (members of the greatest artistic dynasty ever in the United States), Benjamin West, John James Audubon, Severin Roesen, George Inness, William Merrit Chase, et. al.

While galleries 5 and 6 feature a wide variety of motifs, gallery 4 is exclusively portraits. And here the museum take the PC bull by the horns announcing up front that they have works featuring subjects that were both abolitionists and enslavers. The identify both and leave it up to the guest to reconcile the differences between who is depicted as a work of art and as a citizen of their era.

Now a few of the works.

GALLERY FOUR

"Bishop Levy Scott," 1843

Charles Cohill (1812 - 1860)

"Absolom Jones," 1810

Raphaelle Peale (1774 - 1825)

I do not like the fact that I could not take a straight on photo of this work. It's protected by a piece of glass that reflects the lights and created a shadow image of me holding my camera. This was the best I could do.