Communications

WANN Microphone

Tools of communication have transformed American society time and again over the past two centuries. The Museum has preserved many instruments of these changes, from printing presses to personal digital assistants.

The collections include hundreds of artifacts from the printing trade and related fields, including papermaking equipment, wood and metal type collections, bookbinding tools, and typesetting machines. Benjamin Franklin is said to have used one of the printing presses in the collection in 1726.

More than 7,000 objects chart the evolution of electronic communications, including the original telegraph of Samuel Morse and Alexander Graham Bell's early telephones. Radios, televisions, tape recorders, and the tools of the computer age are part of the collections, along with wireless phones and a satellite tracking system.

Name: Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome

Preparatory Studies

On the unsigned sheet Gerome Ferris sketched a woman from a work by French artist Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) in pencil and noted: “A. Watteau Cap etc.
Description (Brief)
On the unsigned sheet Gerome Ferris sketched a woman from a work by French artist Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) in pencil and noted: “A. Watteau Cap etc. about 1725.” However, it is not known what use Ferris might have made of the information, nor the ax handle and the claw hammer also on the sheet.
Location
Currently not on view
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16562.09
catalog number
16562.09
accession number
119780

Seventeenth-Century Ship

Gerome Ferris’s unsigned pencil sketch of a ship under full sail with pennant jauntily flying in the breeze may be related to his circa 1930 painting Henry Morgan’s Knight of the Double Cross, 1670 where there is a similar ship.Currently not on view
Description
Gerome Ferris’s unsigned pencil sketch of a ship under full sail with pennant jauntily flying in the breeze may be related to his circa 1930 painting Henry Morgan’s Knight of the Double Cross, 1670 where there is a similar ship.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1920s
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
1985.0650.008
accession number
1985.0650
catalog number
85.0650.008

The Sultana's Bath

A signed and dated pencil study with subject matter similar to the drawing GA*16628Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
A signed and dated pencil study with subject matter similar to the drawing GA*16628
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1898
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16627
catalog number
16627
accession number
119780

Portrait of Man with an Earring

The pen and ink portrait, signed and dated 1882, shows a man who might be North African, perhaps someone Ferris sketched on his trip to North Africa and Spain in 1881 and worked up later when he returned to Philadelphia.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
The pen and ink portrait, signed and dated 1882, shows a man who might be North African, perhaps someone Ferris sketched on his trip to North Africa and Spain in 1881 and worked up later when he returned to Philadelphia.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1882
maker
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16621
catalog number
16621
accession number
119780

Studies for Here Comes the Bride, 1759

Gerome Ferris made two pencil studies of sword grips used by a soldier of the Black Watch regiment. Such a soldier appears in the 1930 painting Here Comes the Bride, 1759, showing Washington’s marriage to Martha Custis.
Description (Brief)
Gerome Ferris made two pencil studies of sword grips used by a soldier of the Black Watch regiment. Such a soldier appears in the 1930 painting Here Comes the Bride, 1759, showing Washington’s marriage to Martha Custis. The small unsigned sheet is bordered in black like mourning notepaper suggesting that Ferris seized whatever came to hand when he had an idea.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
20th century
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16562.07
catalog number
16562.07
accession number
119780

Fred Melville

The man in the signed ink and pencil drawing is dressed in typical eighteenth-century style with clubbed wig and white stockings. The comb-back Windsor chair is also typical of that period.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
The man in the signed ink and pencil drawing is dressed in typical eighteenth-century style with clubbed wig and white stockings. The comb-back Windsor chair is also typical of that period.
Location
Currently not on view
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16618
catalog number
16618
accession number
119780

Christopher Columbus Dying

Sixteen-year-old Gerome Ferris etched this print in 1879 after his own painting of the dying Christopher Columbus, 1506 Last Days of C. Columbus at Vallodolid.
Description
Sixteen-year-old Gerome Ferris etched this print in 1879 after his own painting of the dying Christopher Columbus, 1506 Last Days of C. Columbus at Vallodolid. The current location of the painting is unknown, but the choice of topic anticipates Gerome’s future as a history painter, focusing on American narrative subjects.
After death, Christopher Columbus’s journeys were not over. His remains traveled from Vallodolid to Seville and in 1542 were taken to the island of Hispaniola, now Haiti and the Dominican Republic, colonized by Columbus after 1492. After a move to Havana, Cuba, they returned to Seville cathedral in 1898 where they are today.
The etching was printed on chine-collé, a very thin sheet of paper that accepts the image in passing through the press with a heavier sheet of backing paper to which is it glued during the printing.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1879
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.14450
accession number
94830
catalog number
14450

Studies for San Salvador, 1492

Unsigned sheet of pencil studies, showing swords and helmets, some of which can be linked to the figure of a crossbowman in Ferris’s painting in which Christopher Columbus takes possession of present-day San Salvador for Spain.Currently not on view
Description
Unsigned sheet of pencil studies, showing swords and helmets, some of which can be linked to the figure of a crossbowman in Ferris’s painting in which Christopher Columbus takes possession of present-day San Salvador for Spain.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1920s
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
1985.0650.005
accession number
1985.0650
catalog number
85.0650.005

Studies for San Salvador, 1492

Gerome Ferris sketched these helmets in pencil for his 1930 historical painting of Christopher Columbus landing in the new world, San Salvador, 1492.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Gerome Ferris sketched these helmets in pencil for his 1930 historical painting of Christopher Columbus landing in the new world, San Salvador, 1492.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1920s
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
1985.0650.006
accession number
1985.0650
catalog number
85.0650.006

The Bonapartes at an Inn

Gerome Ferris recorded his painting The Bonapartes, 1804 in detail in this ink drawing. We do not know whether he made the drawing before the painting as a guide or afterward as a record, and the current location of the painting is unknown.
Description
Gerome Ferris recorded his painting The Bonapartes, 1804 in detail in this ink drawing. We do not know whether he made the drawing before the painting as a guide or afterward as a record, and the current location of the painting is unknown. He researched the historic details in depth to ensure his picture was accurate. He took pride in his chosen calling, painter-historian, which he seriously pursued from about 1900.
The drawing shows Jerome Bonaparte, Napoleon Bonaparte’s youngest brother, and his American wife, Elizabeth Patterson of Baltimore, at an inn during their travels in the United States. Jerome Bonaparte had taken refuge here during the Napoleonic Wars and married during his stay in this country. A furious Napoleon rejected Jerome’s American wife, who returned to the United States. Jerome married again to support his brother’s dynastic ambition.
Location
Currently not on view
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16616
catalog number
16616
accession number
119780

Arab Soldier

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1870
date made
1879
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
original artist
Fortuny y Carbo, Mariano
ID Number
GA.14441.01
accession number
94830
catalog number
14441.01

Arab Mother and Child with Dog

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1879
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
original artist
Fortuny y Carbo, Mariano
ID Number
GA.14445
accession number
94830
catalog number
14445

Zayda Playing an Instrument

Gerome Ferris titled the initialed pencil drawing of a seated young woman playing an instrument, Zayda/Three Princesses." Zayda is a character from "Legend of the Three Beautiful Princesses" in Washington Irving’s book, Tales of the Alhambra, first published in 1832.Currently not
Description (Brief)
Gerome Ferris titled the initialed pencil drawing of a seated young woman playing an instrument, Zayda/Three Princesses." Zayda is a character from "Legend of the Three Beautiful Princesses" in Washington Irving’s book, Tales of the Alhambra, first published in 1832.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1851
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16629
catalog number
16629
accession number
119780

Study of Military Dress

Gerome Ferris noted that the unsigned watercolor shows two men from “Foot/first Regiment,” one of the oldest foot regiments in the British Army.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Gerome Ferris noted that the unsigned watercolor shows two men from “Foot/first Regiment,” one of the oldest foot regiments in the British Army.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
20th century
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16562.11
catalog number
16562.11
accession number
119780

Captain John Smith

Captain John Smith (1580-1631), English author, explorer and soldier, sits at his ease, a book, possibly one of the several he wrote, open on his lap in this signed ink and pencil drawing.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Captain John Smith (1580-1631), English author, explorer and soldier, sits at his ease, a book, possibly one of the several he wrote, open on his lap in this signed ink and pencil drawing.
Location
Currently not on view
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16619
catalog number
16619
accession number
119780

Arab Soldier

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1879
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
original artist
Fortuny y Carbo, Mariano
ID Number
GA.14441.02
accession number
94830
catalog number
14441.02

The Sultana's Bath

A signed pencil study which is similar to the drawing GA*16627Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
A signed pencil study which is similar to the drawing GA*16627
Location
Currently not on view
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16628
catalog number
16628
accession number
119780

Snake Charmer

Given his father’s interest in North African subjects painted by artists like Mariano Fortuny, it is not surprising that the region inspired young Gerome Ferris’s 1877 etching Arab Snake Charmer. Fourteen-year-old Gerome learned to etch from his father.
Description
Given his father’s interest in North African subjects painted by artists like Mariano Fortuny, it is not surprising that the region inspired young Gerome Ferris’s 1877 etching Arab Snake Charmer. Fourteen-year-old Gerome learned to etch from his father. He later entered the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts at the age of sixteen.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1877
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.14438.03
accession number
94830
catalog number
14438.03

Notes and Sketches for Here Comes the Bride, 1759

Gerome Ferris took pains with his historical paintings as this unsigned sheet about Washington’s marriage demonstrates.
Description (Brief)
Gerome Ferris took pains with his historical paintings as this unsigned sheet about Washington’s marriage demonstrates. There are contemporary details of Martha Custis’s wedding gown and of what Washington would have worn with the comment, “Hair powdered (thank God for that).” Sometimes the researcher finds altogether too much information: Ferris noted, probably in some despair, “none of these agree.”
Location
Currently not on view
date made
20th century
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16562.10
catalog number
16562.10
accession number
119780

Portrait of Francis Fauquier

Gerome Ferris initialed this pencil sketch showing Francis Fauquier, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia at the time of Washington’s marriage in 1759. Most of the sketches and notes associated with Ferris’s painting, Here Comes the Bride, 1759, were not signed.
Description (Brief)
Gerome Ferris initialed this pencil sketch showing Francis Fauquier, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia at the time of Washington’s marriage in 1759. Most of the sketches and notes associated with Ferris’s painting, Here Comes the Bride, 1759, were not signed. Fauquier appears in the foreground of the finished work.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
20th century
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16562.12
catalog number
16562.12
accession number
119780

Studies for San Salvador, 1492

Unsigned sheet of pencil drawings listing names of men who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his first expedition to the New World and shows some armor they might have worn.
Description
Unsigned sheet of pencil drawings listing names of men who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his first expedition to the New World and shows some armor they might have worn. About 1930 Gerome Ferris painted San Salvador, 1492 in which Columbus claims the island of present-day San Salvador for Spain.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1920s
maker
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
1985.0650.004
accession number
1985.0650
catalog number
85.0650.004

Study for Here Comes the Bride, 1759

This sheet with a sketch of George Washington in 1759 and notes about weather in Virginia in December, 1818, demonstrates some of the care Ferris took over his historical pictures. He researched the subjects meticulously.
Description (Brief)
This sheet with a sketch of George Washington in 1759 and notes about weather in Virginia in December, 1818, demonstrates some of the care Ferris took over his historical pictures. He researched the subjects meticulously. This sketch shows a Washington very similar to the one in Ferris’s painting Here Comes the Bride, 1759, circa 1930.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1930
original artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.16562.06
catalog number
16562.06
accession number
119780

Portrait of Grandma Moran

Gerome Ferris thought enough of this etching, Grandma Moran, of his maternal grandmother, Mary Higson Moran, that he exhibited it in 1880 at the annual show of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he was enrolled as a student.
Description
Gerome Ferris thought enough of this etching, Grandma Moran, of his maternal grandmother, Mary Higson Moran, that he exhibited it in 1880 at the annual show of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he was enrolled as a student. He made the print in 1879 after an 1876 pencil sketch by his father, Stephen Ferris, who had taught him to etch.
Mary Moran was the mother of artists Peter, Edward, John, and Thomas Moran, brothers of Elizabeth Moran Ferris.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1879
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
ID Number
GA.14435.01
accession number
94830
catalog number
14435.01

Arab Soldier

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1879
graphic artist
Ferris, Jean Leon Gerome
original artist
Fortuny y Carbo, Mariano
ID Number
GA.14441.03
accession number
94830
catalog number
14441.03

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