Archibald McNeal Willard  (1836 - 1918)

A.M.Willard "spirit of '76" bell
I have a bell with the "spirit of '76" image on each side, at the bottom says name of painting and A.M.Willard. I can't find anything on the internet about a bell with this image and would like to know who manufactured the bell and how recent it is.
Thanks!

A.M.Willard Print
I have a signed A Willard or an A.M. Willard print on canvas. signed in lower right. Across the bottom about the center of the print it says it was entered into Congress in 1874. On the lower left it says Published by J.E Ryder, Cleveland. It is a farm scene where two boys, a girl and a dog appear to have disturbed a bees nest. Lots of action in the work. I know condition plays a big part of the value, but,, if it was in perfect condition, and it isn't, what might it be worth? It is framed in I believe the original frame and is 22" x 17"

A.M. Willard Painting/Print
I also have a painting signed on left by A.M.Willard of 2 little boys in a cart & a second painting where the cart spills and the dogs are fighting. These both look like they are on canvas and are nicely framed in glass. Any information would be appreciated. Bedford, Ohio (where Willard was born)is my hometown, not there anymore however. Thank you.

A.M.Willard Oil Painting
I have an oil painting signer at bottom left "A.M. Willard.This is framed size measures 17" x 25" so the painting is slightly smaller.
This is a painting of two little boys in a cart being pulled by a dog which is chasing another smaller dog which has a bone in it's mouth.Background has a house surrounded by a wooden fence and a man coming out of the gate.
Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Hugh Mosher
My husband is related to Hugh Mosher In the painting Spirit of '76' but we dont know if it was from his grandpa Alfred Butcher or Hower(howard) on his grandma side of the family. Most of his side are no longer living and we dont know who to ask, also the fife was in the nebraska museum but was removed right before I got, ahold of the curator at the museum, There was also a Bible that the Mcclains removed not sure of the spelling or what the relationship is. Just would like to know the history of the family. I am finding alot on Mosher, linking him to the painting. Thanks and you can email me anytime

AWillard Oil Painting
It is a kitchen scene with 2 children laughing while father is bent over a chair with the family cat on his back and a pug dog barking. Can anyone tell me anything about this piece - name?

gboucher5@bell.net
hi! i have a plate #2157 the spirit of '76 A.M.Willard would like more info. thank you.

Spirt of 76 Print
I have this print 27" X 36" in frame that are both over 50 years old. Does anyone know what kind of value this might be worth? There are no apparent discoloration or defects.
I hesitate to take the backing off to look for markings, but would if someone would let me know of what and where to look.
Please email me if you can help, docgoing@comcast.net
Thanks,Dave

spirit of 76
I have a military picture spirit of 76 & 18, what does the 18 mean. Thanks Greg

am willard
i would like to now the value of 8 by 10 revolutionary war colored picture and wood frame gold triming on the inside frame picture of thre men one holden a flag and like to find out if its origenal 1876 am willard painting

I have a painting by am willard spirit of 76
The painting is on a piece of plywood has signature on bottom left corner has green markings of lettering and a crown on the back also the wire string is stapled and nailed with copper staples if anyone can tell me more about it please contact 7027886321

AM WILLARD PAINTING
I HAVE HAD A AM WILLARD PAINTING GIVEN TO ME AND WAS TRYING TO FIND OUT IF ITS REAL.IT HAS AM WILLARD 1876 ON BOTTOM . HOW DO I TELL IF ITS REAL OR REMAKE THANKS MUCH.THE NUMBER 4961 IS ON BOTTOM RIGHT. THE SIZE IS 16 BY 20

A little more digging answered my own question
In researching this question, I came across a version of "The Spirit of '76" that is for sale in Ohio.

On the Web page, I learned this:

"While the whereabouts of the original version of the Spirit remains a subject of debate, its widespread appeal led to further commissions for copies. During this lifetime Willard created at least ten oil-on-canvas versions, some more substantial than others. A number were gifts to institutions, family, or friends, and these were created largely during two distinct periods: in the few years after the Centennial, and during the last decade of Willard’s life."

This version for sale, the "Willard Battery Co. Spirit of '76," resembles the second description in my previous posting.

There is much more information on this Web page about the original painting, its exhibition and the distribution of copies, and the other originals painted by Willard during his long career.

Two versions of Spirit of 76?
The Spirit of 76 (or Yankee Doodle) is an American historical treasure. However, in searching for this image on Google Images, I have found what seems to be two versions of the painting. In one, there is a throng of patriots following the two drummers and fife player. The man in the forground is lying on his side, lifted up on his elbow and facing away from the viewer - raising his hat in hand over his head. The other version (which is said to hang in Abbot Hall in Marbletown, MA) does not have all of the extra people in behind the musicians but has a more or less undefined and grayed-out background. The man in the foreground, while also seen next to a broken wagon wheel like the other painting, is reclining on his back, seemingly on a pack of some kind, looking upward and holding his hat in hand over his head. Which is the true authentic painting by Archibald Willard? Is one a copy (widely distributed) with changes. Or did Mr. Willard paint two versions?

Archibald Willard: historical notes
ARCHIBALD MacNEAL WILLARD (1836-1938): Civil War veteran, carriage painter and painter of the "Spirit of 76"


OHIOAN PAINTED THE SPIRIT OF "76"

Archibald McLeash Willard, the painter of the "Spirit of '76", is proudly claimed by Wellington, Lorain County, Ohio, as its own. Though born in Bedford, Ohio (in 1836), he came to Wellington when he was fifteen to learn how to paint wagons and carriages in the Tripp Carriage Factory. His father, the Rev. Samuel Willard, became pastor of the Disciple Church when the family moved there permanently in 1853.

Archibald served in the Civil War as a color bearer. In 1873 he went to New York City to study painting, concentrating on battle scenes and other dramatic works. Back in Ohio, after starting the painting of the "Spirit of '76" in Wellington, he opened a studio in Cleveland and finished it there. His death occurred in 1918, and now he lies buried in the cemetery of his home town of Wellington.

Mr. Willard, through the assistance of a friend, gave an account of the painting of his most famous painting in an article published in the July, 1912, issue of "The Housekeeper", from which the following excerpts are taken:

"Mr. Tripp always had a display of wagons and carriages at the county fair. I began painting little vignettes on the sides of these exhibition wagons. (One day to please his employer's little daughter, he painted a picture, based on a crude woodcut, of a dog, harnessed to a wagon, chasing a rabbit.) To the finished picture I gave the name of 'Puck'. Mr. Tripp took it to Cleveland where it was framed by an art dealer. I painted a companion picture, 'Puck No. 2'. These two pictures were copyrighted and (chromes of them) sold by the thousands.

"The Centennial year was approaching and Mr. Rider (the art dealer) and I agreed, that that year ought to be made memorable and financially profitable by a humorous picture. The title 'Yankee Doodle', suggested itself, and I sat to work to make a picture to fit the title. I had boyhood memories of a country Fourth of July celebration in which local musicians bore their conspicuous share. There was a 'Three finger Dick' who tossed the drumsticks and varied the beat on the chime. I made him my central figure. As a fifer I had at hand Hugh Mosher, a veteran of the Civil War, who was accustomed to appear in Wellington whenever there was a celebration. He was a picturesque character, and in him, a fine vein of fun that made him responsive to my suggestions. To balance the fifes I needed another drummer and took a farmer boy, beating his drum as part of the day's work, too intent on not missing a stroke to feel any particular inspiration.

"I made sketch after sketch. I posed my characters before the camera again and again. I worked for weeks over this humorous picture. At times I almost had it, but just as I was approaching a satisfactory treatment of the theme I would feel a strong sense of dissatisfaction, throw away my sketch and begin anew. Meantime the Centennial year was hastening on and about to open. We had hoped that our photographs (of the picture) would have a wide sale. I felt the need for haste.

"My central character, the old drummer, was no longer living. I had to drape his personality around some other model. At this time my father, a superannuated minister, was living with me. He had the tall, strong features I needed, and he posed for me with his drum. But just as I seemed to be approaching a final plan my father was taken sick, and I saw that he was not long to live. Then something of self-condemnation came over me that I had ever treated the theme as a humorous one.

"A certain inspiration came to me. I saw my models, Harry Devereaux, a fine manly boy, Hugh Mosher and my father in a new light. I saw them in imagination on the battlefield. I had seen such men there. I looked into my father's face and the lines of the commonplace faded out, and instead I saw the grand old man, then nearing death, a fine, old man whose soldier spirit had been with him in the years of his privation and self-denial. I saw Hugh Mosher as I had seen such men in battle. The whole idea took on new significance. I tied a bandage around the head of Hugh Mosher. I put his fine, manly boyhood into Harry Devereaux. And into the old drummer I put, as I saw it, the dignity and fortitude and moral heroism of my father. And now I had to work hard and fast, divinding my time, watching nights with my father and painting by day. My father did not live to see the result. But I finished the painting under the inspiration of his character.

"We sold the photographs as we had planned. The Centennial at Philadelphia kept the printing frames at Ryder's gallery busy. But this was not the real triumph. The painting was sent for and exhibited at the Centennial. It was a life-sized canvas, and hung on the line; and crowds thronged it day after day.

"Hugh Mosher attended the Exposition and was recognized at once. It made him a local hero, and he lived and died a local hero with more honor by reason of it.

"Harry Devereaux, too, saw it and his father bought it and placed it in Abbott Hall of his native state (Marblehead, Mass.).

"I may add a closing word about the title of the picture. I gave it this title which I had first in mind, 'Yankee Doodle'. This is the tune I still hear when I look at it. But many of those who love it prefer 'The Spirit of Seventy-six'. And I am content with either."

One of two articles found in The OGS Report of April 1966 (Volume 6, Number 2). The misspelling of Willard's middle name was printed that way in the newspaper that was transcribed. I typed the article exactly as I found it.

a m willard spirit of 76
I have a 8x10 of the spirit of 76. It has the number 4961 in the lower right hand margin. the left hand margin is signed AMWillard
1876.
I would like more info. If you email a phone number I will return your call. Thank You, Sarah Bourland

dog chasing rabbit
I have a painting of children in a cart pulled by a dog in which the cart has tipped and the children are on the ground. I would like more info. it is signed AM Willard.

sequence paintings
Jean, these sound like lithographs by Willard and produced by James F. Ryder called "Pluck" and "Pluck II"

sequence paintings
my husband received a painting of children in a cart pulled by a dog and the follow up painting in which the cart has tipped and the children are on the ground. any info on these would be great. thanks

spirit of 76 painting
I have a painting signed by A M Willard.The subject is Spirt of 76.Does anyone know the best person I should contact to have it cleaned.

family tree
i am a DAR and related to archibald willard i would like to know more sincerely deborah lynn hazel burnaman

archibald willard
i have been doing a lot of research on this amazing figure. i currently live in the home that archibald helped his father, samuel willard, build in 1850. at that archibald would have been 14, his father the firt baptist minister, here in south russell, ohio. archibald made his first murals in this house. little can be found detailing the life the lead here, and it is always said that he was born and raised in bedford, ohio. not true. we are searching for other willard prints to place in our house. anyone needing to find out more information here is what we have samuel willard built this home 1080 bell road south russell, ohio in 1850. his father was a baptist minister who died in 1859, he's the drummer in the '76 painting. we have no idea how bedford, ohio becomes involved in his history.

Archibald Willard/Found work
I recently discovered a seascape of A. Willard - did not know he did such scenes. Anyone know anything about it - it has no date on it. Was it his early work or late work?Thank you for any information you can provide for me.

Related to Arch Willard
We are doing a family tree and need more info about Willard's marriages. Did he marry one Nellie Read from Wellington, O. That would have been my grandmother's sister.

Spirit of '76
Sonya,
I also have a version of the painting that matches your description. Please inform me if you know of the value or authenticity. Thank you.

Spirit of 76
I recently purchased a work of art that is very old. It is seemingly a copy of the Spirit of 76 painted by Archibald M. Willard. It is approx. 28 in long and 21 in wide and has turned a lime green color from apparent years of aging. It is signed at the bottom A.M. Willard 1876. I am wondering how this could be a replica and signed by A.M. Willard at the same time. Could it be one of the copies made by James Ryder at the World's Fair in 1876? Please advise! Thanks!