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c. 1876 Cabinet Card Photo YANKEE DOODLE, After Willards Painting Spirit of 1776

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:180.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 400.00 USD
c. 1876 Cabinet Card Photo YANKEE DOODLE, After Willards Painting Spirit of 1776
American Revolution
Cabinet Card titled “Yankee Doodle” After Willards Painting
c. 1876 American Centennial, Cabinet Card Photograph titled “Yankee Doodle”, after Archibald MacNeal Willard’s Famous Painting the “Spirit of 1776”, original displayed by the Town of Marblehead, Massachusetts, Published by J.F. Ryder, Choice Very Fine.
This c. 1876 Cabinet Card measures about 4.25” x 6.5”. After A.M. Willard’s famous painting “Spirit of 1776”, image shows soldiers marching, with three men in foreground playing two drums and fife. The fife player has a head bandage. Text at bottom reads, “Copyright and Published by J.F. Ryder, Cleveland O. / Yankee Doodle.” Blank reverse, pinhole at top, wear to corners. The “Spirit of '76” is a patriotic sentiment surrounding the American Revolution. It refers to the attitude of self-determination and individual liberty, documented in the Declaration of Independence. The Willard artwork, with its battered Revolutionary War soldiers, was painted more than once by the artist, but Marbleheaders believe they have the “original” version that was first exhibited in the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876. Scarce, the first example we have offered in four decades.
The town of Marblehead, Massachusetts’ houses the iconic titled Painting of the “Spirit of ‘76” the actual famous Archibald MacNeal Willard painting.

The painting, a national treasure, is now hanging in the selectmen’s meeting room at Abbot Hall, not with the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution in the rotunda of the National Archives in Washington.

The Willard work, with its battered Revolutionary War soldiers, was painted more than once by the artist, but Marbleheaders believe they have the “original” version that was first exhibited in the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876. Then and now, the patriotic sacrifices it portrays touched a nerve in a nation torn by war. Marblehead native and Civil War veteran General John Devereux, whose grandson posed as the drummer boy, purchased the painting and gave it to the town.

The town of Marblehead has since taken a fiercely protective interest in the painting, even refusing to license its imagery for commercial uses. They have locked the art in a protective metal frame faced with tough Plexiglas.