Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Bob Wolfe Rifle

 This Bob Wolfe rifle was bought in the mid 70s.  Bob is from the Coshocton Ohio area and was a fairly active contemporary builder in the 60 through 90 time period.  This is a cherry stocked 40 caliber, Getz 38 inch octagon to round configuration.  Gun is about 6 pounds.  Bob's style is very individual and makes an interesting study.  The taper from the butt to muzzle is as extreme as it looks in the photos




Copy and photos supplied by Heinz Ahlers.

Baggataway Sticks and Wooden Ball by James Blake and Chris Hays


Photos supplied by James Blake.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Memorial Day

Thank you to all the men and women who have given their lives in the service of our country.

Portraits of George Washington

George Washington, 1780
Charles Willson Peale (American, 1741–1827)

On January 18, 1779, the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania passed a resolution commissioning a portrait of George Washington for the Council Chamber and selected Charles Willson Peale as the artist. In preparation, Peale traveled to the Princeton and Trenton battlefields in February of 1779 to make sketches for the background. The original portrait, the full-length version now in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, was a tremendous success and Peale completed numerous copies for royal palaces abroad, each time updating the general's military dress. This figure of George Washington was probably painted between June and August of 1780. In every other version, Washington is shown after the Battle of Princeton, but here he is depicted after the Battle of Trenton, the turning point of the war. It has been suggested that this portrait was commissioned upon the order of Mrs. Washington, because it is the only portrait in which Washington wears his state sword and because the painting descended in the Washington family.

George Washington, 1780
John Trumbull (American, 1756–1843)

In this portrait, Washington is standing near the Hudson River with his servant Billy Lee behind him. The view across the river shows West Point, where the red and white banner, possibly the navy ensign adopted in 1775, is flying atop the fortress. Trumbull had served on Washington's staff as second aide-de-camp at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He painted this portrait from memory about five years later, when he was studying in London. It became the first authoritative representation of Washington available in Europe and was soon copied throughout the Continent.

George Washington, ca. 1782
James Peale (American, 1749–1831)

James helped his elder brother Charles Willson Peale make replicas of his popular full-length portrait of Washington, commissioned in 1779 by the state of Pennsylvania. The bright color and clean outlines of this small version are characteristic of James's style. After the Continental forces, assisted by the French, had triumphed over the British at Yorktown in 1781, James Peale sketched the battle site, including here a view of the harbor showing the protruding masts of sunken ships. The French and the American flags fly above the general's head and the banners of the conquered lie at his feet.

George Washington, ca. 1790
Charles Peale Polk (American, 1767–1822)

Polk used his uncle Charles Willson Peale's so-called Convention portrait as the basis for this image; Peale painted the original portrait from life at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. Polk portrayed Washington numerous times from various sources but never from life. In 1790, Polk wrote to Washington requesting a sitting and stating that he had executed fifty portraits of him during the previous year.
George Washington, ca. 1795–96
Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755–1828)

When he first sat for Stuart, President George Washington was sixty-three years old and near the end of his second term of office. Stuart subscribed to prevailing theories about physiognomy, which held that a study of the outward body could reveal a person's inner qualities. It took all of Stuart's colloquial powers to engage Washington in conversation so his face would move and Stuart could fathom the president's character, or personality. His portraits of Washington were a success from the start. Stuart painted three distinct portraits from life: the so-called Vaughan (as here, showing the right side of Washington's face); the Athenaeum (showing the left side of his face); and the Lansdowne (full length). Stuart painted at least 100 versions of the different compositions, most of them based on the Athenaeum portrait.


American Revolution Patriots

George Washinton with his Aid de Camp, Tench Tilghman on far right, and Lafayette center at Yorktown by Charles Wilson Peale, 1784

Tench Tilghman (December 25, 1744–April 18, 1786) was an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary war. He served as an aide de camp to General George Washington, achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Tench Tilghman's swords

Charles Thomson (November 29, 1729 – August 16, 1824) was a Patriot leader in Philadelphia during the American Revolution and the secretary of the Continental Congress (1774–1789) throughout its 
existence.

Preliminary version of the Great Seal of the United States by Charles Thomson, the Secretary of Congress. Three separate committees had tried and failed to come up with a suitable design for a national seal which satisfied the Continental Congress; Thomson then took elements from all the preceding designs and came up with this version, which is very close to the final design. William Barton made some further refinements before the final report was submitted. 


Jan's relative is Tench Tilghman and Art's relative is Charles Thomson. Copy on Tench Tilghman from Wikipedia. Copy and photos of Charles Thomson from Wikipedia.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Leather Covered Bible by Ken Scott






Photographed at Cades Cove by Jan Riser.

Elizabeth Lee Gaul Birds

Photographed at the 2011 Lake Cumberland Mini CLA Show by Jan Riser.

Horn Scoop







Photographed at the 2011 Tennessee Kentucky Rifle Show by Jan Riser.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Friday, May 27, 2011

Old Piggy by Joe Mills






Loading Block by Brad Mills



Adjustable Measure by Karl Keuhn

Photographed at Cades Cove by Jan Riser.