Help Save Historic Delco Art!

DCHS wants to raise money to help restore three significant works of art that relate to America 250 and could serve as great awareness campaign about the collection and how we work to keep it protected. DCHS needs approximatley $5,000 in funding to help begin the restoration process, such as having the works of art assessed. The three items for restoration are as follows:

“The Marquis de Lafayette Portrait”

by Anonymous/Unknown (circa 1825)

This oil on canvas portrait is of an unknown sitter and artist. The portrait is allegedly of Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, a hero of the War for American Independence. 

It is known that Lafayette visited the area of Delaware County both in 1824 and 1825 during his Grand Tour of America. The frame is damaged, and the portrait is aged and yellowing. Restoration and conservation are needed to help preserve its state, and this work could also shine light on the identity of the artist and the sitter.

Washington Tavern Sign

by John Archibald Woodside Sr. (1849)

John Archibald Woodside Sr. (1781-1852) was a celebrated sign painter of the Federalist period in Philadelphia. Woodside was a student of Matthew Pratt (1734-1805) and his works were exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts between 1817 and 1835. Woodside also painted on sides of fire engines and is credited with doing the first locomotive decoration.

The Washington Tavern Sign was from “The President Tavern” on West Chester Pike and Providence Road in Edgmont Township, Delaware County. The sign was painted in 1849 and was outside the tavern until 1923. Both sides depict General George Washington, with one side based on a 1790 portrait by Edward Savage, with General Washington seated at table in his study. The other side is an equestrian portrait, with Washington on top of his horse.

The Washington Tavern Sign was donated to DCHS in 1923 by Edgar Howard Pierce after the tavern closed and was sold at public auction. The sign is a rare antiquity of Delaware County’s history of taverns and inn’s that dot the County. The frame measures 65”x 42”. The tavern sign has remarkably maintained well, but it is fading, and in need of conservation treatment and an assessment. A mounted stand for display is recommended.

While this piece was on display to the public at DCHS’s former location in Chester, very few people had the chance to view it due to the location’s very limited foot traffic. Additionally, it was displayed at the height it would have been hung when it was a tavern sign (15 to 20 ft high). This will be the first time it is accessibly displayed at eye level.

Launching of the “City of Peking” from Roach’s Shipyard, Chester, Pennsylvania 

by Alexander Charles Stuart (1874)

Stuart’s portrait of a ship launching from Roach’s Shipyard of Chester demonstrates the unique engineering history of Delaware County at the height of the 19th Century. The City of Peking held the record for the largest American ship afloat until 1889. The launching ceremony depicted here was reportedly attended by 25,000 people and included a trial ride with President Ulysses S. Grant and Vice President Wilson. This was a unique moment in history as this was also effectively the first time the United States of America was without an executive head in the country.

Stuart became a United States citizen after resigning from the navy in 1866. Thereafter, he worked primarily as an artist and illustrator for the merchant shipbuilding companies of John Roach & Son in Chester from 1872 to 1880, and then with Harlan & Hollingsworth in Wilmington, Delaware through the late 1880s. During this time, he became well known for documenting many of the early iron steamships built by these firms in the latter nineteenth century.