Key to Rothermel's Picture of Patrick Henry, Delivering his celebrated Speech in the House of Burgess of Virginia, in the Year 1765.... [caption title]

Philadelphia: King & Baird, prg. Sansom St. Philada., 1852. First edition. Self wrappers, printed on light green paper. About very good, a few stab holes in margin, fore edge slightly rough, worming at inner margin, mainly on the rear and not affecting text, faint creasing.. [4 pp]. Illus. with b/w drawings. 4to. Page 1: Key to the figures depicted; p.2: Description of the painting; p.3: Object and Plan of the Institution. Art Union of Philadelphia; p.4: List of Officers; subscribers will receive the engraving.

"In the early months of 1851, the managers of the Philadelphia Art Union decided to add a new feature to their plan: to commission annually an original painting from a prominent artist, have it engraved for subscribers, and award it as a prize. The managers of the art union undertook this project because they were, in the words of their resolution, 'deeply impressed with the utility, necessity, wisdom and moral influence of cherishing a national spirit, in the patronage of the Arts of Design, in the United States, and a national pride in the excellence of her living artists.' Perhaps Patterson's call for a truly American art, delivered at the end of December 1850, had helped spark interest in an art that was American in spirit and influence. Rothermel was selected to produce the first of these pictures. By January 1852, the seven-by-six-foot painting of Patrick Henry was complete, and the Art Union Reporter pronounced it a 'splendid effort of genius.' According to this pamphlet, Rothermel's painting commemorates that daring moment in 1765 when Patrick Henry, before the Virginia House of Burgesses, announced his resolutions in opposition to the Stamp Act, the first direct tax levied by the British parliament upon the American colonists who saw it as evidence of tyranny." (Husch: Something Coming: Apocalyptic Expectation and Mid-nineteenth-century American Painting, Univ. New England Press, 2000; pp 147-149).

Scarce. OCLC show one, under a different title, at the NY Historical Society Library. There are also copies at the Hist. Soc. of Pennsylvania, UVA, and AAS.