Readers who want to identify the signers of the Constitution on NR’s current cover will find a useful key in the Wikipedia article on the painting (“Signing of the Constitution,” by Howard Chandler Christy).
The bald head over a hidden face at the very back of the room belongs to Jacob Broom of Delaware, who was the only signer of whom no picture or description survives. Artists who depict the event realistically have adopted different strategies to deal with him (in Signers’ Hall at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, his bronze statue holds a hand over his face for a convenient scratch).
If you google Howard Chandler Christy paintings, you will find “The Signing of the Constitution,” a handsome Hollywood Christ, and many women who were not at the Constitutional Convention, though Gouverneur Morris may have known some of them.
I was just at Signers Hall on Veterans Day, and recall the statue and its unusual pose, which struck me as an interesting naturalistic effect. Little did I realize the true reason behind it.
It's an impressive room, and with Rick Brookhiser's books in mind I paid my respects to the splendid statues of Washington, Hamilton, and Madison, all clustered in close proximity to one another. I had previously commented to my young son that Madison was a little guy--a fact I learned from RB's latest--and we were excited to see that this was indeed the case.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseChristy is also famous for several iconic recruiting posters for the Marines during and after WWI. Overall, a very talented artist, back when that actually meant something...
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse