Pennsylvania Landscape
- Lafayette's Headquarters
Visible beyond the branches of the massive buttonwood tree that dominates the foreground (and still stands today) in this painting is the eighteenth-century Gideon Gilpin House that served as General Lafayette’s headquarters during the Battle of the Brandywine.
Wyeth combined elements in creating this work, saying, “I think of it as the whole Pennsylvania landscape in one picture – with that marvelous buttonwood tree in the middle. I’m almost suspended, looking down. Of course it’s a composite view. I never stand in one spot when I paint a landscape. I float. I move. It’s impossible for me to be photographic.” This painting was one of eight Wyeth works chosen by the Museum of Modern Art for their landmark exhibition Americans 1943: Realists and Magic Realists. It was an important moment in Wyeth’s early career, bringing him national attention and praise from critics and audiences as the exhibition traveled from New York to nine cities throughout the U.S. and Canada.
