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Brandywine Battlefield

Date1870

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions36 1/4 x 54 1/4 in. (92.1 x 137.8 cm)
frame: 46 1/8 x 64 1/8 x 5 1/2 in. (117.2 x 162.9 x 14 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. Charles E. Mather II in loving memory of Gilbert Mather, 1970

Object number1970-23

On View

On view

Label TextSituated about ten miles from here, near Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, Brandywine Battlefield was the site of a major battle during the Revolutionary War. A century later, when this painting was created, the battlefield had been transformed into farmland. In the foreground of the painting, two men examine a cannon left behind from the famous battle 100 years earlier.

Russell Smith painted this about five years after the end of the Civil War, during Reconstruction, and his painting may reflect that context. Here, the weapons of war are antique curiosities unearthed by farmers working in their field on a sunlit day.