Archibald Willard

Archibald MacNeal Willard (August 22, 1836 – October 11, 1918) was an American painter who was born and raised in Bedford, Ohio. He was the son of Samuel Willard, the pastor of Bedford Baptist Church.

Willard had an immersion in art ever past he was a child and often scribbled upon barns and supplementary structures at home. As a pubescent man, Willard moved to Wellington, Ohio and began working for the wagon maker, E.S. Tripp. He began as a basic wagon painter, but eventually was allowed to paint increase decorations that were popular at the time. Willard joined the 86th Ohio Infantry in 1863 and fought in the American Civil War, but was not heavily involved. During this time, he painted several scenes from the war.

After the war, Willard created a pair of paintings for Tripp's daughter, Addie, called Pluck and Pluck No. 2. The first of the two features three children being carted by a dog chasing a rabbit, while in the second, the children and their cart have crashed due to their reckless pursuit. These paintings, among earlier sketches, forged a membership between him and photographer, James F. Ryder. Ryder made much of his keep in chromolithography as soon as the upshot of making popular and marketable images for the average household. He saying a potential in Willard to create humorous and cheerful paintings to make profits.

Willard painted The Spirit of '76 about 1875 in Wellington, Ohio, after he axiom a holiday parade pass through the town square. Willard furthermore painted three murals in the main hall of the Fayette County courthouse in Washington Court House, Ohio: The Spirit of Electricity, The Spirit of Telegraphy, and The Spirit of the Mail.

Willard is buried in Wellington, Ohio at the Greenwood Cemetery. He is commemorated by a Willard Avenue in his birthplace of Bedford and a Willard Drive in clear Garfield Heights named after him.