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| 1950 |
| Lea Mills |
| FES Title: | Spruance “Lea Mills” | |
| Alternate Titles: | ||
| Date: | 03/31/1933 | |
| Size: | 20.75″H x 56″W | |
| Medium: |  |
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| Type: | subject painting | |
| Published: | Garvick, John. “The Port of Personal Service.” Dateline Delaware, September-October 1960: 24. caption: Old Lea Mills “Sketch Book…featuring the work of outstanding Delaware artists” Dateline Delaware, September-October, 1960: 25. |
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| Inscription: | lr: Frank E. Schoonover / 1933 © | |
| Annotations: | en verso on canvas in black paint: NO 1950 This painting is NO – 1950 / 1950 / Commission / given Artist -March. 26. 1931 – / Decoration Finished / March. 30. 1933 / c. by Frank E. Schoonover
en verso on handwritten label on left vertical cross stretcher: |
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| Exhibitions: | ||
| Comments: | digital 1-14-07; index; edit | |
| Commentary: | The Lea Mills, on the Brandywine River in Wilmington, Delaware, were owned by Alice Lea Spruance’s family. Schoonover was commissioned to paint this mantle decoration of the Mills for the Spruance home in Wilmington, Delaware, on March 16, 1931. In a report on the painting, the family historian reports: “Every effort was made to have the picture historically correct. The ship [named the ‘Jane Ross’] was of the correct draft to be able to come that far up the river. When the painting was finished, Mr. Schoonover found an old [ ] man who was a boy at the time the mill was in use and asked him if the painting was as he remembered. He told Mr. Schoonover that there was something missing…there had always been rats on the dock. So Mr. Schoonover took a paint brush and put a small dab of black paint on the dock, making the picture authentic right down to the rat.” See #1950sa and #1950sb for sketches for this painting. See related photograph of the Lea Mills in Wilmington, Delaware. (#1950p) |
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| Provenance: | Commissioned for Alice Lea Spruance, Wilmington, Delaware (March 26, 1931); descended in the family to private collection | |
