Study for _The Departure of the Pilgrim Fathers_

Collection ID: ART.000363
Type: Art
Date: 1849
Geography: England
Language: N/A
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 21 × 27 in. (53.4 × 68.6 cm)
Exhibit Location: On View in the Bowden Gallery of Biblical Art, Impact of the Bible in the World

This painting is a study based on a larger painting that was entered into the Westminster Hall Competition of 1847 for Her Majesty’s Commissioners of Fine Arts. The final painting “obtained a premium of £200” and now hangs at the Pilgrim Hall Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It depicts minister John Robinson raising his hands in prayer with the Pilgrims before they set sail from Holland in 1620. Beside him, on a rock, is an open Bible. In Robinson’s farewell letter to the Pilgrims, he referenced the Bible throughout and quoted from 1 Corinthians and Matthew.

Created in 1849. [1] Sold at auction in 2006 by Christie’s; [2] Acquired by 2010 by Christian Heritage Museum, Hagerstown, Maryland; Privately purchased in 2010 by the Green Collection, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Donated in 2017 to the National Christian Foundation (later The Signatry), under the curatorial care of Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC.

Notes: [1] A written note on the back of the painting reads, “‘Departure of the Primitive Puritans’ or ‘Pilgrim Fathers’ for the Coast of America A.D. 1620. See Neals History of the Puritans, also Bancroft’s United States, a finished study for a [larger painting?] by Charles Lucy [p.?] 184[9?]. The large picture obtained a premium of £200 from her Majesty’s Commissioners of Fine Arts—at the Westminster Hall Competition—1847.” [2] Auction records from Christie’s, April 19, 2006.