Stretcher: 128.3 x 190.5 x 5.1cm (50 1/2 x 75 x 2")
Frame: 162.6 x 225.7 x 12.7cm (64 x 88 7/8 x 5")
Type:
Painting
Place:
United States\Pennsylvania\Philadelphia\Philadelphia
Date:
1862
Exhibition Label:
In 1857, the inventor of a coal-burning stove, Jordan Mott, commissioned Christian Schussele to paint this group portrait of nineteen scientists and inventors of the United States who “had altered the course of contemporary civilization.” Schussele represents the group gathered around a table discussing Samuel F. B. Morse’s telegraph device, with other inventions and diagrams scattered about the room. The portrait did not commemorate an actual occasion but was meant to honor national achievement. Schussele began by sketching each figure individually before designing the group composition. In the background, he included a painting of the men’s famed eighteenth-century predecessor, Benjamin Franklin.
Men of Progress pays tribute to the remarkable growth of the U.S. economy by the 1850s. It celebrates the inventions and processes of manufacturing pioneered by men such as Cyrus McCormick, Charles Goodyear, Samuel Colt, Elias Howe, and Joseph Henry, first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
En 1857, el inventor de la estufa de carbón, Jordan Mott, encargó a Christian Schussele este retrato grupal de 19 científicos e inventores de Estados Unidos que “habían alterado el curso de la civilización contemporánea”. Schussele presenta al grupo en torno a una mesa, examinando el telégrafo de Samuel F. B. Morse, con otros inventos y diagramas dispersos por el salón. El retrato no pretendía conmemorar una ocasión real, sino honrar los logros nacionales. Schussele comenzó por esbozar cada figura por separado antes de fijar la composición de grupo. Al fondo incluyó una pintura del célebre antecesor de estos hombres en el siglo XVIII, Benjamin Franklin.
Hombres del progreso rinde tributo al extraordinario crecimiento económico logrado en EE.UU. para la década de 1850. Celebra las invenciones y los procesos de manufactura originados por hombres como Cyrus McCormick, Charles Goodyear, Samuel Colt, Elias Howe y Joseph Henry, primer secretario de la Smithsonian Institution.
Provenance:
Jordan Lawrence Mott; Mott family; (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); purchased 21 January 1937 by The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift to NGA 1942; transferred 1965 to NPG.
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; transfer from the National Gallery of Art; gift of the A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, 1942