Philippe Halbert, PhD

PSA for 2022: Art historians are also historians. Art in all its forms is as "primary" a source as any text, and requires equally careful analysis. Use and discuss images responsibly and with respect to their historical context. That's it. That's the tweet.

@AmericanaApril Super cool! An immigrant ancestor!

@plbhalbert Gustavus is my 6 x great Grandfather.

Attrib. to the Swedish immigrant artist Gustavus Hesselius (1682-1755), these extraordinary portraits of Lenape sachems Lapowinsa and Tishcohan were commissioned by PA proprietor John Penn (1700-1746) around the time he met them to settle a land dispute in 1735. #vastearlyamerica

@MELANIATRUMP Cheap, just like you.

A NEW ERA IN PUBLISHING I am honored to bring you Melania – The AI Audiobook – narrated entirely using artificial intelligence in my own voice.      Let the future of publishing begin.   Exclusively: melaniatrump.com

@AnnCoulter You're dumb.

I can't wait for the press to find out about France's so-called "gift" of the Statue of Liberty, accepted in 1886 by then-President Grover Cleveland.

He appears as a sort of artisan-aristocrat, casually wrapped in a silk dressing gown and wearing a velvet turban atop his shaved head. A striking likeness.

A Boston silversmith and engraver, Hurd sits with clasped hands beside two books, one identified as A Display of Heraldry, first published by John Guillim (circa 1565-1621) in London in 1610.

Nathaniel Hurd (1730-1777), painted by John Singleton Copley (1738-1815) in the mid-1760s, seen at @ClevelandArt. #VastEarlyAmerica #AmericanArt

In terms of sheer numbers, gravestones are perhaps the most representative early American art form and survive in greater quantities than basically anything else from the same era. How’s that for a statistic?

*This* is the sculpture that is missing from the American art history canon (and art history more generally!).

Loved watching Karin Sprague in action at @HistDeerfield! #VastEarlyAmerica #AmericanArt

The last known Revolutionary War veterans died shortly after the Civil War, still many had their photograph taken. Come face-to-face with this generation with the Museum's Revolutionary Generation wall this #VeteransDay. 📸: bit.ly/3jOIyh4

“Drink Round” at @HistDeerfield's Barnard Tavern (operated 1796-1804) / 📷 / English pearlware punch bowl with fish in “Prattware” colors, Staffordshire or Yorkshire, circa 1780. #VastEarlyAmerica #CeramicsinAmerica

Page publicly professed his faith as a Christian in 1814 and became an evangelical missionary. Posthumously published in 1835 and subtitled The Power of Prayer and Personal Effort for the Souls of Individuals, Page’s memoir proved an influential text of the 2nd Great Awakening.

A striking #VastEarlyAmerica[n] likeness, perhaps a self-portrait, completed by Harlan Page (1791-1834) of Coventry, Connecticut, around the time of his 1813 marriage to Mary Kingsbury (1793-1838). On view at @GriswoldMuseum #AmericanArt

@AOTUS11_Shogan Fun. You should still resign, maybe give your job to a couple of competent emerging historians who deserve whatever obscene salary you make and who aren't afraid to reckon with this nation's past in its entirety, let alone complexity.

🎃Trick or treat! We have some great photos of families celebrating #Halloween throughout the United States. Look at this sweet one!

Other the figures wear red and blue wool broadcloth acquired through colonial trade or as diplomatic gifts.

Seen using a tumpline or forehead strap to carry a basket of corn in from the field, one of the women wears a lavish cape or mantle fashioned from turkey and wood duck feathers. An armed guard dons a painted buffalo robe.

Evocative recreation at the @Choctaw_CC of Shomo Takali (Hanging Moss), a Choctaw town that stood in present-day Kemper County, Mississippi. Founded in the wake of European contact, the village appears on French colonial maps by the 1740s. #VastEarlyAmerica #NativeAmerica