Stater a.k.a. As Wisconsin States into the Future from the Wisconsin Sesquicentennial Portfolio, 2001
Color etching, hard ground, aquatint, soft ground
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington
So I was trolling the Smithsonian American Art Museum web site looking for art that could be used to celebrate the Winter Olympics. A keyword search on "skating" turned up 18 works of art. My first thought on seeing this one: "That looks like that Scottish painting." A quick review of my archives helped me find the post I was thinking of: The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch a.k.a. The Skating Minister. As you can see, the image at the center of Wiley's print is a dead ringer for Raeburn's painting. What does a Scottish painting of a minister skating on a frozen loch have to do with the sesquicentennial of Wisconsin? I haven't the slightest idea, though frozen lakes are hardly unknown in Wisconsin. Nor do I have any idea why the treble clef above and to the left of the skating minister is backwards. It's a mystery, though I've taken steps find the answer: I e-mailed the artist's representative to ask about the skating minister, and she wrote back to say she would ask him. Watch this space for the answer!