Antiques: 'Art in Revolutionary Philadelphia': Museum offers a look at treasures from war era

Philadelphia is filled with memorials honoring the heroes of the American Revolution. From our modern point of view, the decision to fight for independence from England might seem an easy choice. It seems like one patriot said, "Let's start a revolution" and everyone joined the fight.

While this might be the scenario presented in patriotic movies, "Art in Revolutionary Philadelphia," a special exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, shows the risks taken and costs paid by supporters on both sides of the conflict.

The exhibition's story is told with furniture and decorative arts drawn principally from the museum's permanent collection. We call them antiques, but during the Revolution such worldly goods became valuable spoils of war, subject to seizure. Even wealthy families could lose everything they had in a day.

"By saying you will fight, you're also saying, if I lose, I lose everything," said Alexandra Alevizatos Kirtley, the Montgomery-Garvan Associate Curator of American Decorative Arts. Families who sided with the Continental Army and its cause knew the risk they took.

Many Philadelphians, however, remained loyal to the Crown of England and what they thought of as their home country. Kirtley continues, "About 60,000 loyalists left and went back to Great Britain because of their very strong feelings that the American colonies should not go to war over this. They believed in the structure of the British Empire."

Historian Katherine Rieder, the exhibition's guest curator, says, "We hope people will understand that it was a very unstable environment, especially in Philadelphia, because it changed hands. Looking back, we don't think about people being forced to make choices or holding off on those choices as long as they could.

"If your house was on fire, what would you grab? It was that same kind of mentality. What would you take, if you could only take what you could carry?"

Loyalists felt that they had chosen the right side when British troops occupied the city in September 1777, after the Continental Congress had fled. Rieder points out, "In Philadelphia, you are surrounded by all those monuments to patriotism, and you forget that for nine months it was essentially a British city."

The earl of Carlisle moved into Mayor Samuel Powel's house, and the family was forced to live in the back rooms.

On a more lighthearted note, the British officers really knew how to throw a party. Before they departed in May 1778, they organized a farewell festival for Gen. William Howe, who had been recalled to England.

The Meschianza, as it was called, involved barges, pavilions, and even a bit of jousting. The Library Company of Philadelphia has lent some memorabilia from that fabulous fair, including a ticket with Howe's crest.

When the British finally left, families were forced to pledge allegiance to the cause of American independence or their goods would be seized. Art became currency to aid in the fight. Everyone naturally tried to conceal and save what they could.

Confiscation sales were held through the 1780s to raise funds to finance the Revolutionary War. The beautiful mahogany high chest of drawers on view, with its elegant carving by Nicholas Bernard and Martin Jugiez, went through the process of confiscation and sale.

"When fleeing Philadelphia, the loyalists took with them what they could," Kirtley explains. "Joseph Galloway was Pennsylvania's most ardent and vocal loyalist, and his family lost almost all their possessions due to confiscation.

"The Philip Syng Jr. coffeepot, made between 1750 and 1753 - a real tour de force of form and craftsmanship - somehow made it back to England with either his daughter or his wife. The museum purchased it using the McIlhenny Fund."

City residents who remained were expected to contribute to the war effort. "We have a wonderful quote from 1779 by Elizabeth Drinker on the wall," Kirtley says. "She was a Quaker, and there was a large number of Quakers in Philadelphia.

"Most of the Quakers supported these civil liberties, but - because of their beliefs - they couldn't fight or pay war taxes. The Continental Army had to get some sort of support out of them, so they were forced to give up some of their worldly goods, which were sold to raise funds."

Drinker's list of what she lost includes some of the most important furniture in her house - a walnut dining table and six chairs, a tea table, a precious looking glass, and two large pewter dishes.

The curators have put together a display of objects that represent what was seized.

History is always seen from the victor's side, and of course our side won. But any war - past or present - involves terrible costs, as property is destroyed and refugees are forced to flee.

"Art in Revolutionary Philadelphia" brings together some artifacts that survived to tell the tale of this turbulent period. Kirtley concludes: "People are really interested in this exhibition. I've gotten a lot of great feedback and comments about it."