Collections record Beta

Collection Record Detail

Object Name

Sketch - Proposed Arms of Peru

Object Number

1953-17-7

Description

Sketch on matboard of a coat of arms against a blue circular background with a thin gray boarder. Done in gray, black, blue and white pencil. The circular background against which the coat of arms is set is itself set against a plain white background with a gray beam running along the lower portion of the sketch. The coat of arms itself is done in gray, white and black pencil and contains a shield, four flags and a wreath. The shield is divided up into three parts. The top left hand corner contains a sketch of what appears to be a llama and in the top right hand corner there appears to be a sketch of a tree. the bottom half of the shield is filled with the sketch of a cornucopia. The four flags jut out from the left and right side of the shield, two on each side and the wreath sits directly on top of the shield itself. On the bottom of the sketch on the bottom left hand corner of the mat board in pencil is written: "PROPOSED/ARMS OF PERU." In the center of the bottom of the mat board is the word "PERU" underlined in pencil and to the far right hand corner is written: "SCALE 1'/2" = 1'-0"." On the back of the mat board in blue ink is written: "A Purves/1963."

Provenance

Very similar design to 1953-17-4. Possibly from the same ship, the SS Santa Maria.

Comment

Born in Philadelphia, Austin M. Purves Jr. (1900-1977) lived in the East Litchfield section of Litchfield for the last 40 years of his life. Purves studied art at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts and the Académie Julian in Paris, France, before opening a studio in New York, where he was director of the day and night schools at the Cooper Union. After moving to Litchfield, Purves taught art at Bennington College and at Yale Art School and was a member of the Architectural League of New York, the National Society of Mural Painters, and the (then newly-formed) Hartford Art School. Over the course of his career Purves did commission work for R. H. Macy & Co., the Folger Memorial Library in Washington, D.C., the American Battle Monument in Draguignan, France, the 1939 World’s Fair, various churches, ship lines and private clients, among others. In addition to commission work, Purves drew primarily from people and nature for his own personal sketches and paintings.