1 The Daily Intelligencer
Bicentennial Commemorative Edition Volume II 10/27/1975 Col. 1-3 Page 118
Wanamaker paid Trego’s
$160 commission
By
GERALD THOMAS When the painting
"The Rescue of the Colors" was first unveiled by the Bucks County Historical
Society in l899 in the county courthouse, the artist said
his crea- tion was in reality being "buried." This spring, William T.
Trego's famous painting will have another unveiling of sorts when it is put
back on public display in the historical society
library which is undergoing construction changes. In the library, the painting will again be seen by the hundreds of
people who visit the nationally famous society and
its Mercer Museum in Doylestown almost daily. The painting had been
transferred from the courthouse to the library in 1905 when the
society changed its headquarters. This shift in location was parallel to the change in the society from a small
town historical group to one of national
prominence. Today, it is likely the artist, if alive, would feel his
painting is no longer buried and is to be displayed in a
prominent enough spot. In a letter to Henry Thouron, an instructor at
the Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts, Trego described his
feelings about his precious painting coming to Bucks County: The painting is to be
buried in (unveiled they call it) in the Bucks County Courthouse at Doylestown next
Satur- day (October, 1899). Train leaves Reading
Terminal (in Philadelphia) at 11 a.m. There will be patriotic
speeches. There will be a brass band, but no fireworks. Cannot you and Mr. Harrison Morris (the director of the academy) come to
the funeral. If some of my friends do not come, I shall no
longer have one to sympathize with me. Trego, who lived in
North Wales, had wanted to ex- hibit the painting in three major cities in
the country before it "was buried" in Bucks
County, but he was un- able to pry the big canvas out of Doylestown
once it got there.
An article in the North American, a newspaper, at the time referred to it "as a picture on
which particular interest centers because the public has never
been per- mitted to see it at any of the noted
exhibits." In his letter to
Thouron, Trego said, "Though it was the understanding when I began the picture
that I would have the privilege of exhibiting the
picture in three cities in the United States, they now
intimate their $160 (the price paid for the painting) might
be damaged." On the day the painting
was unveiled, a telegram was delivered to the artist from Morris: Congratulations and
regret cannot be with you today. Hope you will have opportunities to exhibit
the picture. Trego fervently hoped
so, too. But it was not to be. On Christmas, 1899, Trego wrote the academy in a
rage: I enclose my agreement
with Gen. W.W. Davis for painting the Rescue of the Colors, which
please return to me. I painted the picture
at the lowest possible price as a favor to Davis, my native country and its
soldiers of the rebellion. Davis never paid a cent
toward the frame or picture, but beat up John Wanamaker (the benefactor who
gave the painting to the county) to pay for the
picture and E. R. Artman and Capt. E G. Cadwallader to beg money
to pay for
the frame. Davis never made any
provision for exhibiting the picture with the authorities of the
county, it seems, and I had to almost steal an opportunity to
have it photographed while it was at Earle's (an art
dealer who handled the painting before it was brought to Doylestown).
Thanks to Mr. Earle, Davis even says he did not know l had a written agreement with him. I also enclose the
resolutions refusing me the right to exhibit. I have answered them
telling them practically that they are fools and that they had better go where
the climate will be more comfortable during the winter, so
you see my communication is cut off there. I don't see that it is
possible to do anything with such people and cannot suggest a course to be
pursued. But I wish as a favor
if you can find the time that you would write me some sort of letter to show
that l still have respectable friends. Perhaps they may come down. Their resolutions are a mere bluff to get rid
of me or make trouble for me. I made the general design for the frame and it was surrounded by a suitable
shadow box to protect it at exhibitions. Capt. C.G. Cadwallader
is general ticket agent at Broad Street Station (in Philadelphia) and l take
him to be a gentleman.
l do not know Wanamaker except through a complimentary letter on my success. I guess Alfred
Paschall, secretary of the historical socie- ty, is all right. But Davis, as I understand, since the presentation of the
picture in Doylestown is a vain snake in the grass. He is president of the historical society. I have been counting on
exhibiting the picture, and it is a very great
disappointment to me that things have turned out as they
have, but you see it is impossible to comply with such
demands. P.S. Please return the
resolutions as I wish to keep them among my curiosities. The artist, whose
father Jonathan was born in Pineville and also an
artist, probably held bitter feelings against Bucks County
his entire life. But bitterness characterized much of
Trego's life. At the age of 51, he
killed himself, according to historians. But the obituary in the New York Times said
the noted painter and
sculptor died of overexertion and an attack of vertigo
brought on by the excessive heat (the
incident happened in June). The
suicide apparently |
was hushed up because of the social taboos
of the time. Historians say no doubt
his action was triggered by depression brought on
by the stiffling heat, but there were other factors
involved: his realistic style of pain- ting was becoming
unfashionable and even more impor- tant he was finding it
increasingly difficult to care for himself. For Trego was
physically handicapped. According to
a Philadelphia newspaper
he became paralyzed at the age of 18 months when a
doctor gave him a dose of calomel to help him through a
teething trial. Both hands were left twisted and out of
shape. Despite his handicaps
and the difficulties he had in painting, he knew from
early childhood he wanted to be an artist. Trego was born in
Yardley. At the age of 19, Trego
painted a major work, "The Charge of Custer at
Winchester." A newspaper review- ing the work at the
time called the "boy painter" a genius
and said a brilliant future was before him. |
Encouraged by his first
success, he enrolled in 1879 at the Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
Later, he went to Paris
where he avidly soaked up the museums and galleries
and limped about sketching. His crippled French
contemporary, Toulouse Lautrec, was painting in Paris at
the time, but there is no evidence the two met. Throughout the 1890s,
Trego painted prolifically, mostly battle scenes of
the Revolutionary, Civil and Franco-Prussian
wars. More than 200 paintings came from his studio. One of the most notable was "Washington
Reviewing the Troops at Valley Forge," which now hangs in the
museum of the Valley Forge Historical
Society. The painting, The
Rescue of the Colors, was avidly received
in ceremonies in Doylestown in 1899. Judge Harman Yerkes in
his speech of acceptance pointed out: The pride of our
country is augmented by the cir- cumstances that the
artist, who has so successfully and grandly risen to the
requirements of a great occasion, and enlarges his own
frame on this canvas, is himself one of her own sons...This
picture, in the custody of the Historical Society,
will be preserved in their rooms (and soon we hope to possess
an appropriate building) along with those implements
of the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, which in
the hands of our ancestors were used to conquer the
forests. The people attending
the ceremonies probably did not know
the artist was raging. |