| The Death of Jane McCrea | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | John Vanderlyn |
| Year | 1804 |
| Type | Oil on canvas, history painting |
| Dimensions | 82.5 cm× 67.3 cm(32.5 in× 26.5 in) |
| Location | Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut |
The Death of Jane McCrea is an 1804 history painting by the American artist John Vanderlyn. It depicts a scene from the American Revolutionary War when Jane McCrea, was abducted and murdered by two Native American warriors. The killing took place during the Saratoga Campaign of 1777 when the Native warriors were taking part in the British expedition and despite the fact that she was engaged to a Loyalist officer serving under General John Burgoyne. [1]
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John Vanderlyn was noted for his sympathies to France during the Napoleonic Wars and he uses the painting to illustrate an anti-British theme. To reinforce the point he shows McCrea's fiancée in the distance rushing to try and rescue her not in the red coat of the British Army but the blue of the Continental Army. [2] Vanderlyn moved to Paris and became the first American ever to exhibit at the Paris Salon when he displayed two portraits at the Salon of 1800 in the Louvre. [3] He returned to Paris again and exhibited this work, his first history painting, at the Salon of 1804. It was purchased the following year by Robert Fulton for the American Academy of the Fine Arts in New York City. Today the painting is in the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut. [4]