Antony van Corlear Brought into the Presence of Peter Stuyvesant
Artist
John Quidor
(American, 1801-1881)
Date1839
MediumOil on canvas, with possibly an original frame
DimensionsFramed: 37 3/4 x 44 1/2 x 3 1/2in. (95.9 x 113 x 8.9cm)
ClassificationsPAINTINGS
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Terms
Object number63.110
Description On View
Not on viewCollections
CopyrightNo known copyright restrictions.
Label TextThis painting was based on one of the stories in Washington Irving's (1793-1859) satirical novel History of New-York (1809). It depicts the moment when Anthony Van Corlear, who was the town trumpeter of New Amsterdam (later New York), replies to a question from Governor Peter Stuyvesant by "sounding his own trumpet." Irving tells us that because of Van Corlear's popularity with the young ladies of New Amsterdam, his trumpet was adorned with "with red and yellow ribbands, the remembrances of his fair mistresses."
Students of American literature have noted that Irving's novel contains numerous bawdy puns on Governor Stuyvesant's first name. This joke was apparently not lost on Quidor who relished giving pictorial form to the sexual allusions contained in Irving's story. This is apparent, for example, in his representation of Stuyvesant, who bristles with various phallic surrogates: his sword, wooden leg, cane and long-stemmed pipe-which he points at Van Corlear with a finger gesture that is generally understood in popular culture to be the sign of a cuckold.
Paul D. Schweizer
The Rococo Revival-style frame on Quidor's painting may seem a little too recherché for Quidor's bawdy illustration of Irving's tale, however, the depiction in this painting of a similarly-styled frame hanging on the wall of what the artist intended to be a New Amsterdam, Dutch-style interior, adds legitimacy to the appropriateness of the real Rococo-style frame that now adorns the painting.
Paul D. Schweizer
August 2010
