(CONSTITUTION) Lefferts Charles M Signing the National Const

Sale 2420 - Lot 127

Price Realized: $ 1,188

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Estimate: $ 300 - $ 400

(CONSTITUTION.) Lefferts, Charles M. Signing the National Constitution. Watercolor on board, 29 1/2 x 22 inches; condition strong, title in pencil on verso. Np, circa 1900-23

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Charles MacKubin Lefferts (1873–1923) was an American artist who specialized in historical paintings of the Revolutionary era. He is perhaps best known for his "Uniforms of the American, British, French, and German Armies in the War of the American Revolution." In this painting, George Washington is seated as president of the convention, with delegates Read, Clymer, and Morris waiting to sign. Benjamin Franklin points toward the decoration on Washington's chair, recalling a famous anecdote told by James Madison: "Whilst the last members were signing it Doctor Franklin looking towards the Presidents Chair, at the back of which a rising sun happened to be painted, observed . . . often in the course of the Session, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting: But now at length I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting Sun."