Whittredge's autobiography is entertaining. From modeling for Emanuel Leutze to a prank about scalping involving a toupee, Whittredge has quite a collection of endearing stories, although the extent of their truth is something I question. He details his humble beginnings as the son of a farmer in Ohio and leaving his dad to be a sign painter with his brother in law. Whittredge says he had felt the pull to be an artist for sometime but would never mention that to his father, which is why he decid
Whittredge's autobiography is entertaining. From modeling for Emanuel Leutze to a prank about scalping involving a toupee, Whittredge has quite a collection of endearing stories, although the extent of their truth is something I question. He details his humble beginnings as the son of a farmer in Ohio and leaving his dad to be a sign painter with his brother in law. Whittredge says he had felt the pull to be an artist for sometime but would never mention that to his father, which is why he decided to go to Europe. He ends up joining the Düsseldorf school and becoming an artist at last, where he meets Bierstadt and Church and many other famous Hudson River School artists. He had an overall successful career after coming back to America and ends the book with saying he feels out of place since many of his friends have died and his work is passé.
The way he tells some of his stories makes them difficult to believe, like his claim that he modeled for George Washington in
George Washington Crosses the Delaware
. He makes sure to say the face was painted after a bust, but the body is all him. Whittredge also leaves a lot of things out which I feel are important, like when he married and how many kids he had. His family is not mentioned at all, and it was his granddaughter which helped him write and edit the autobiography! Not even a thank you. His autobiography very much centers around his career and anyone he deems important enough to mention.
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