"Lying in State"
Object number2011.034.0063
Date1968 - 1985
ClassificationsArt
Artist
Bernadine Stetzel
ObjectArtwork
Credit LineBernadine Stetzel Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions30 x 30 in. (76.2 x 76.2 cm)
DescriptionOil painting on canvas created by artist Bernadine Stetzel that shows President Kennedy's casket lying in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
Artist Stetzel described this piece as follows: "President Kennedy's flag draped casket lies in state in the rotunda of the Capitol."
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.
Curatorial CommentaryIncluded in the Museum's temporary exhibit, "Mourning a President," about the funeral and mourning rites for President John F. Kennedy, this item will be on display on the Museum's seventh floor from November 17, 2017 to February 19, 2018. -- Lindsey Richardson, Curator of Collections
Bernadine Stetzel based many of her Kennedy portraits on actual photographs. This overhead view of the U.S. Capitol Rotunda was likely inspired by or based on a color photograph taken by National Geographic photographer George F. Mobley. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator
