Beschreibung:

Giosue De Benedictis (Italian/American, 1874-1958) "For His Flag and Country", 1917 oil on canvas signed lower left, titled on brass artist plaque. Framed. 54" x 34", framed 62" x 42" Provenance: Heritage Auctions, Dallas, Texas, May 3-4, 2006, lot 23328; Frances Aronson Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia. Exhibited: [By the artist] May 1917, Studio Building, Tremont Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Literature: Illustrated: A. J. Philpott, "Women's Burden in War: Striking Presentation in the Painting Exhibited by Prof. J. Benedictis,"Boston Globe 28 May 1917, p. 9. Catalog of Copyright Entries, 1917 Works of Art, Photos. Washington: Library of Congress, 1917, no. 5732. Notes: "O'Christ of the seven wounds, Who look'dst through the dark, To the face of Thy mother! consider, I pray, How we common mothers stand desolate, mark, Whose sons, not being Christ's, die with eyes turned away, And no last word to say!" Elizabeth Browning's poem on a mother's suffering written during the Italian War of Independence, as quoted in the closing lines of the Boston Globe article written about this painting. Professor Giosue De Benedictis embodied the American dream and rallied the patriotism of his new nation throughout World War I and later World War II, creating several paintings and murals for the support and morale of the war effort. In 1917, he painted this lot, "For His Flag and Country", dedicated to the wives and mothers of the soldiers, and displayed it throughout the month of May in honor of Mother's Day. In 1919, he executed a panoramic mural of the Battle of Vittorio Veneto dedicated to the Italian General Armando Diaz to commemorate the victory of the decisive battle that ended the Great War in Italy and led to the surrender of the Austro-Hungarian Empire a week later. As an elderly man during World War II, he corralled morale once again with patriotic works like "In Flanders Fields".