This is the presidential portrait of Daniel DiLella for the Union League of Philadelphia. Actually, this is his second portrait for this official purpose. The first was painted by a world acclaimed figurative painter, but as this client and the League were not satisfied with it, I was engaged to paint this subsequent replacement. The formal unveiling occurred just two weeks ago, on September 5th, 2006, and was a splendid affair, indeed. It will hold the best spot in a room full of past presidents for the next few years, then every portrait will be rotated on the walls again to accomodate some new ones.
Everyone at the unveiling appeared to be satisfied this time
. The Union League of Philadelphia is a venerable institution founded in 1862 as a civic response to the ongoing U. S. Civil War. It remains today a civic minded club with a very genteel membership of old blood and old money; and mostly Republican Party affiliations. Abraham Lincoln holds god-like status here, as the original Republican President.
While the League, which must be the most opulent and sumptiously appointed club I could ever imagine, has graciously commissioned portraits of its own presidents every two years over the past one-hundred-and-thirty, it also has an exemplary collection of U. S. Presidential portraits hanging within its hallowed and gilt halls. All, but a few select exceptions, are Republican presidents. There is one lone Democrat: Andrew Jackson; and a few Whigs to accompany him, back to this nation's founding father, George Washington, proudly appearing within a colossal equestrian portrait by Thomas Sully that dwarfs the grand staircase. More recent examples rank the best in my eyes, and include Gerald Ford, and George Herbert Walker Bush (Bush#1), by Everett Raymond Kinstler, and Ronald Reagan by Nelson Shanks. Mr. Shanks also just painted the current League president (following my client), and is having a major exhibition of his paintings here, beginning in October, for a couple of months.
Needless to say, all this can be more than a little intimidating for my first foray with this institution, and it made me want to give this portrait my very best effort so it might hold a candle with the rest of the collection. My intent was to deliberately paint a conservative portrait image that would fit with all the fifty some peers upon the walls in Lincoln Hall. I hope in this regard, the portrait speaks for itself. The idea for the background comes directly out of the aforementioned legacy Sully portait of Washington. The League members make that visual contextual connection immediately. The size of this painting is 40 inches by 30 inches; which is about the average of the Hall's collection, and Mr. DiLella is therefore represented just slightly under life-size. By the way, Mr. DiLella graciously afforded me over twenty hours of sittings out of his consuming schedule. He was a serious client!
With all that said, allow me to share some pictures! The frame is by far, the fanciest I have ever employed, and yet it is relative simple and conservative within the context of this League's opulence. Cost was not an issue (and it was costly)!
Garth