PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A new exhibit opens this weekend at the Museum of The American Revolution that features more than 45 paintings done by one historical artist. What makes the exhibit special is that historic artifacts that inspired or were painted in the works of art are also on display.
The exhibit is called "Liberty: Don Troiani's Paintings of the Revolutionary War." Troiani studied at the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts in the 1960s. It runs through September 5, 2022.
Many of the weapons, military equipment and textiles depicted in Troiani's works were inspired by artifacts from more than 200 years ago. More than 40 objects have been displayed in the exhibit along with the appropriate painting.
One of the paintings, "The Battle of Trenton," features Hessian soldiers. A Hessian soldier's cap, which served as a model for those in the painting, is in a nearby case.
"They are decorated with a lion and [the letters] FL, for Frederick Landgrave [or] Frederick II, who was the prince of Hesse-Kassel, which was the part of Germany that they came from," described Matthew Skic, the museum's curator of exhibitions.
"We see that design also reflected in the original object, the original cap that we have on display. So it's neat to compare how Don Troiani, the artist, used an original cap as a model and incorporated into his painting in order to incorporate greater realism to his work by studying an original artifact from 250 years ago."
The Hessian soldier cap on display was dredged from the mud of Delaware River in the early 1900s by the Army Corps of Engineers. Also displayed is a piece of a Hessian silk flag flown in the Battle of Trenton.
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"Also from Don's collection is an original British grenadier cap," said Skic. "Studying an original cap can help Don, as an artist, understand how it was worn. When he includes it in a painting like this one of a British grenadier, he can ensure that his painting is true to the original artifacts and give us a better sense of what that cap looked like sort of in action."
A British cannonball — with a broad arrow mark — is in a case next to a painting of the Battle of Bunker Hill. You can also see the cannonball depicted in the painting.
There are also paintings showing the diversity of that time — for instance, Molly Pitcher dousing sparks of a battlefield cannon and black soldiers from the Rhode Island regiment making their way through Philadelphia.
Kids can participate in a scavenger hunt and keep their eyes peeled for images like a dog, a cat, or the broad arrow cannonball in the paintings.