Citizen Spectator: Art, Illusion, and Visual Perception in Early National America

384 Pages·2011·18.718 MB·English

by  Wendy Bellion

Citizen Spectator
Published for the Omohundro Institute of
Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia,
by the University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill

The author and publishers gratefully acknowledge
the generous support for this book from the Wyeth Foundation for American Art.
The Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture is sponsored jointly by the
College of William and Mary and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. On November 15, 1996,
the Institute adopted the present name in honor of a bequest from Malvern H. Omohundro, Jr.
© 2011 THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS
All rights reserved. Designed by Kimberly Bryant and set in Miller by
Tseng Information Systems, Inc. Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bellion, Wendy.
Citizen spectator : art, illusion, and visual perception in early national America /
Wendy Bellion. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Outgrowth of the author’s thesis (Northwestern University).
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8078-3388-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Art and society—United States—History—18th century. 2. Art and society—United
States—History—19th century. 3. Optical illusions in art. 4. Visual perception—Social aspects—
United States—History—18th century. 5. Visual perception—Social aspects—
United States—History—19th century. I. Title.
N72.S6B395 2011
701′.03097309033—dc22
2010023645
Portions of Chapter 2 previously appeared in “Illusion and Allusion: Charles Willson Peale’s
Staircase Group at the Columbianum Exhibition,” American Art, XVII, no. 2 (Summer 2003), 19–39.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on
Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. The University of
North Carolina Press has been a member of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.
p. xii: Rembrandt Peale, Washington Before Yorktown (detail). 1824; reworked 1825. Oil on canvas,
138 × 1201⁄2 in. Accession no. 44.1. Courtesy of Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Gift of the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, Mount Vernon, Virginia
This volume received indirect support from an unrestricted book publication grant awarded to the
Institute by the L. J. Skaggs and Mary C. Skaggs Foundation of Oakland, California.
15 14 13 12 11 5 4 3 2 1
)
FOR GEORGE

Acknowledgments
This book has been many years in the making. It began as a dissertation at
Northwestern University, where my advisor, Holly Clayson, encouraged and
guided this project from the day I announced my interest in Charles Will-
son Peale’s Staircase Group. It evolved into a book in places from Maine to
Virginia with the support of many institutions and people whom I now have
the pleasure of thanking.
I am indebted to the archivists, curators, and librarians who assisted me
with research over the years, including staff at the American Antiquarian So-
ciety, the Archives of American Art, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania,
the John Carter Brown Library, the Library of Congress, the Massachusetts
Historical Society, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. At the
Library Company of Philadelphia, Jim Green pointed me toward invaluable
resources while Sarah Weatherwax, Erika Piola, and the Print Room staff
unearthed gems in the collection and fielded endless picture queries. At the
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Kathleen Foster and Carol Soltis shared their
knowledge of Philadelphia art and culture and facilitated access to some
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
extraordinary objects. Karie Diethorn at Independence National Historical
Park granted a special tour of Independence Hall at an important stage in
my research. And, over the course of much time spent at Winterthur Mu-
seum and Library, colleagues suggested things to look at, to read, and to pon-
der. Special thanks to Linda Eaton, Joan Irving, Brock Jobe, Susan Newton,
Jeanne Solensky, Joyce Hill Stoner, Neville Thompson, and Anne Verplanck.
I was fortunate to hold dissertation grants and fellowships from North-
western University, Winterthur, the Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS, the
Library Company of Philadelphia, and the Center for Advanced Study in the
Visual Arts. A four-month National Endowment for the Humanities fellow-
ship at Winterthur in 2002 helped me get this book under way, and a two-
year NEH fellowship at the Omohundro Institute of Early American History
and Culture in 2003–2005 helped bring it to fruition. The intellectual gen-
erosity of the Institute staff and fellows was vital to this project throughout.
At a roundtable reading of my dissertation in Williamsburg, Chris Grasso,
Paul Mapp, Laura Rigal, Fredrika Teute, Alan Wallach, and Karin Wulf chal-
lenged me to think creatively about the structure, argument, and method-
ology of my project. I owe particular thanks to Fredrika for her early and
constant support of this project, to Ron Hoffman for his professional coun-
sel, and to Patrick Erben, Niki Eustace, and Brett Rushforth for many won-
derful conversations.
At Rutgers University and the University of Delaware, where I have had
the privilege of teaching art history, faculty leaves enabled me to complete the
book manuscript. A General University Research grant from the University
of Delaware made additional research possible, and the Wyeth Foundation
for American Art generously awarded funds for illustrations. At Delaware,
my colleagues and students in the Department of Art History sharpened
my thinking about trompe l’oeil and sustained my work with their interest.
Catherine Holochwost and Nenette Luarca-Shoaf supplied much-needed re-
search assistance, and Derek Churchill helped me obtain images in a pinch.
Delaware has also provided an extraordinary community of fellow travelers
in American art and material culture, including Lu Ann de Cunzo, Ritchie
Garrison, Ann Gibson, Kasey Grier, Camara Holloway, and Monica Domin-
guez Torres. Martin Brückner, Bernie Herman, Marcy Dinius, and Ed Larkin
read portions of the manuscript and offered great direction. I am particularly
grateful to Bernie and Martin. As scholars and friends, they have shaped this
book in immeasurable ways.
My thanks also go to the colleagues who kindly read chapter drafts
and responded with helpful insights: Alan Braddock, Max Cavitch, Hunt
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
Howell, Kendall Johnson, Michael Leja, Lily Milroy, Chris Phillips, and
Jennifer Roberts. My book is much better thanks to the two external readers
of the manuscript—Sally Promey and an anonymous reader—who offered
thoughtful and useful critical feedback. Sally also continually supported this
project from the get-go, and for that I am most appreciative. At the edi-
torial offices of the Omohundro Institute, Mendy Gladden shepherded the
manuscript through its early stages; Ginny Montijo’s expert editing made
my writing stronger and clearer; and Seth Archer checked facts, quotes, and
references with admirable thoroughness. Many others answered questions,
suggested sources, and cheered me on, including Carrie Rebora Barratt,
Peter Brownlee, Emily Cooperman, Rachael DeLue, Brandon Brame For-
tune, Cathy Kelly, Matt Kinservik, Lauren Lessing, Maurie McInnis, Ellen
Miles, Cindy Mills, Alex Nemerov, Louis Nelson, Nina Rowe, David Stein-
berg, and David Ward. I am also grateful to the organizers and audiences at
the events where I presented material from the book, including lectures and
seminars at Brown University, Columbia University, the Huntington Library,
the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Newark
Museum, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Pennsylvania State
University, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the University of Penn-
sylvania, Wesleyan University, and Yale University.
My heartfelt thanks go to those who lived as closely with this book as I
have over the past few years. My children added levity to long days of writ-
ing and ensured frequent escapes to the park. Many friends provided child-
care and laughter along the way. My extended family, especially my parents,
John and Gwenda, and my in-laws, Ann and Allen, maintained high enthu-
siasm for this project throughout. And my husband George—he made every-
thing possible through his patience, humor, and love. This book is for him.