A Favorite Painting 18

N.C. Wyeth, Franklin's Arrival in Philadelphia 1923

As should be evident from previous posts in this series, my reaction to a painting is often based on historical elements, whether overt or not. Even though this image is distinctly historical in topic, that has little to do with how much I like it. I saw this at the Amon CarterMuseum in Fort Worth a few years ago, and was drawn to the image by the gorgeous interplay of light and dark, so suggestive of an Indian summer evening, with the leaves turning and lengthening shadows slanting across the sidewalk. Wyeth was known primarily as a magazine illustrator, and its easy to imagine this picture augmenting some biographical narrative of the founding father. But all by itself, it's highly suggestive of the kind of fresh start one might associate with start of a new school term, or perhaps at the start of the harvesting season. In the popular imagination, we don't often think of Benjamin Franklin as a young man, but knowing what he became, this picture just seems full of promise and potential-- for him, for the country, for whoever. I think it's that sense of possibility, along with the nostalgia of Indian summers past, that draws me to this painting.