"The President's Family"

Object number2011.034.0043

Date1968 - 1985

ClassificationsArt

Artist Bernadine Stetzel

ObjectArtwork

Credit LineBernadine Stetzel Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)

Terms

Collections

DescriptionOil painting on canvas created by artist Bernadine Stetzel that depicts President Kennedy with his family on Easter in Palm Beach. Artist Stetzel described this piece as follows: "President Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy along with their children Caroline and John Jr. shown here in Palm Beach for the Easter holidays in 1962." An enthusiastic supporter of John F. Kennedy, Stetzel was devastated by the assassination. Shortly after visiting the president’s gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery in 1968, she began work on a series of paintings that depicted the life of the late president. Between 1968 and 1985, with a long break in the middle, Bernadine Stetzel created 71 works that followed John F. Kennedy from his christening ceremony to the eternal flame at his gravesite.