The Christian Martyrs: Study of Swooning Woman (r); The Landing of Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock: Study of Pilgrims Disembarking (v)

"The Christian Martyrs in the Coliseum" was one of Rothermel's most important paintings, bought immediately by James L. Claghorn and exhibited three times at PAFA (1864, 1877 and 1878); three times at the Boston Athenaeum (1868, 1869, and 1870); at Philadelphia Sanitary Fair of 1864; and at the Centennial exhibition. Work on the picture may have been under way as early as 1862, as evidenced by "Head of a Martyr" (PAFA) dated that year. This less finished but fluid and subtle oil sketch of a woman, gives a rare insight into Rothermel's academic preparation as well as the facility of his technique. The study on the verso may have been done as many as ten years earlier, for the painting "The Landing of the Pilgrims" of 1854 (Lafayette College).