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HENRY JAMES SOULEN.
“Blessing the Plowshare.” Oil on canvas. 864x686 mm; 34x27 inches. Signed in image,
lower right. On original stretcher and in large wooden open-backed frame, re-hinged,
cardboard sheet stamped to canvas verso for support with a photocopy of a typed letter by
Norman Rockwell to Soulen’s son in December of 1968, singing his father’s praises as an
illustrator.
[4,000/6,000]
A gorgeous canvas by the famed Saturday Evening Post illustrator and specialist of Americana and
religious images who won the Peabody Award for his cover art. This work showcases his signature
palette of light-saturated colors and raised paint textured details like the stained glass windows.
Rockwell’s letter states:“For years I admired his work as a cover artist and illustrator for The Saturday
Evening Post and Ladies Home Journal . . . His sense of color was extraordinarily brilliant, but
expressive.”