American Revolution Museum Opens New Exhibit Centered On Recently Discovered Painting
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- "Among His Troops," that's the name of a new exhibit at the Museum of the American Revolution in Old City.
A recently discovered watercolor painting, depicting the use of Washington's war tent, is the centerpiece.
Pierre L'Enfant created the 7-foot-long panoramic painting 235 years ago. He was showing what he was seeing at the Continental Army encampment.
Dr. Philip Mead, chief historian and director of curatorial affairs for the museum, was looking at an online auction when the painting caught his eye, and he took a closer look at the images contained in the painting.
"I said, 'Wait a minute,' and spotted this marquee tent here and thought, 'That looks an awful lot like the Washington Tent we have in the Museum of the American Revolution,'" Mead recalled.
Dr. Mead says the find is important, for there were not a lot of records kept during this period of time, and symbols contained in the painting are being examined to possible shed light on what was going on during the American Revolution.
