Sketch in N.Y. apartment turns out to be rare Revolutionary War drawing

Sketch in N.Y. apartment turns out to be rare Revolutionary War drawing

After waiting for two years, Matthew Skic was excited to visit the New York City apartment of a collector of early American art. The curator of exhibitions at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia had heard reports about Judith Hernstadt’s impressive array of artifacts from the colonial period, which she had gathered over the past 40 years.

Because of the covid pandemic and other commitments, Skic had to delay his tour until August 2023. His patience was rewarded when he witnessed Hernstadt’s assemblage of prints, paintings, furniture and other rare items from the late 18th century.

Then Hernstadt took him into another room, and when he saw a framed image hanging on the wall, he recalled, “My jaw dropped.”

It was a pen-and-ink sketch of 18th-century soldiers walking next to a horse-drawn wagon that included two women and a baby. Depictions of an army on the march from that era were rare. He wasn’t sure which army it was until he spotted an important clue.

“My heart was racing,” he said. “One of the soldiers was wearing a distinctive American garment called a hunting shirt. It was a typical garment of the Continental Army, worn by American soldiers.”

Skic would later discover that — unbeknownst to Hernstadt — she was in possession of one of the earliest eyewitness depictions of American troops and their female companions during the Revolutionary War. The drawing had been crafted by an artist who played a prominent role in the iconography of the new American government, though neither Hernstadt nor Skic was aware of it at that moment.

“I could see Matthew was excited,” she said. “I was just pleased he appreciated the artwork. It was always a favorite of mine.”

As Skic examined the sketch, he found an inscription identifying the soldiers as members of the North Carolina Brigade marching through Philadelphia in August. The year and the name of the artist were torn off, apparently accidentally.

Matthew Skic examines the sketch by Pierre Eugene du Simitiere.

The curator realized it was going to take considerable detective work to uncover those secrets, so he asked if he could take the drawing with him to Philadelphia. Hernstadt agreed.

Back at the museum, a conservator confirmed that the ink and paper used for the sketch were authentic. Skic then dug deeper into the details. The illustration, measuring 15 by 5 inches, shows six men — two on horseback, two on foot and two riding in a wagon laden with supplies — along with two women and a baby in the wagon. On the reverse side are five preliminary studies of figures in different poses.

The difficult-to-read inscription states: “An exact representation of a waggon belonging to the north carolina brigade of continental troops which passed thro Philadelphia august done by …,” with the remaining words missing.

At first, Skic focused on finding the year it was sketched. He searched through volumes of old newspaper archives for the answer and located it in the Aug. 27, 1777, issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette. The newspaper included an account of “General Nash’s brigade of North-Carolina forces” marching through the city to join General Washington’s Continental Army just before the Battle of Brandywine.

“Holy smokes!” Skic said he exclaimed, although he conceded he might have used stronger language. That would make it the first known eyewitness drawing depicting American female camp followers — wives, daughters and other women who helped the soldiers with cooking, washing and other chores.

Until Skic’s discovery, the oldest known artwork depicting female camp followers was a watercolor from 1782 by Pierre Charles L’Enfant, the French engineer who laid out the street plan for Washington. In 2017, Skic had been part of the team that identified L’Enfant as the artist who created a panoramic painting of Washington’s army at West Point, N.Y. He wondered if L’Enfant could have also drawn Hernstadt’s sketch, but historical records showed he had not been in Philadelphia in 1777.

Skic continued searching for the artist and settled upon a prime suspect: Pierre Eugene du Simitiere. The Swiss-born philosopher and artist had settled in Philadelphia in 1774. Five years later, he completed one of the first known portraits of George Washington, which was featured on the 1791 one-cent coin.

Skic was familiar with the artist. In 2013, as an intern, he had studied the works of du Simitiere, who was best known for submitting the first proposed design for the Great Seal of the United States. Though his idea was rejected, the Founding Fathers seized on two elements of his design: the phrase “E pluribus unum” (Latin for “Out of many, one”) as the country’s motto, and the all-seeing eye (known as the Eye of Providence) that remains on the one-dollar bill.

The museum curator consulted with art historians familiar with du Simitiere’s other works, then presented samples of the artist’s letters to handwriting experts so they could compare them to the inscription on the sketch. In February, Skic and his colleagues announced their finding: It was du Simitiere.

“They immediately saw similarities in his writing,” Skic said. “The capital ‘P’ in ‘Philadelphia’ in the inscription on the sketch matched exactly.”

Skic went back to Hernstadt to tell her the good news. She was excited and decided to gift the sketch to the Museum of the American Revolution, where it is set to go on display Wednesday. Hernstadt plans to be there when the drawing is unveiled.

The reverse side of the sketch by Pierre Eugene du Simitiere.

“I’m thrilled he found out so much about this sketch,” she said of Skic. “I collect early American art because it helps me understand the past and know how we evolved. I like the way the museum tells history and am glad they added this artwork to their collection.”

For Skic, research continues on the sketch. When Hernstadt acquired it 40 years ago, she was told it had belonged earlier to a New Jersey doctor who treated artists from the Revolutionary War period. Skic hopes to learn the name of the physician and how he came to possess this picture.

“Our work is still unfolding,” he said. “As we approach the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, it’s exciting that new materials like this sketch can help show this important event in new ways. There’s still a lot left to be discovered.”