What’s all that yelling?
It’s hard to make out the words, but at the entrance to the Virginia Museum of History & Culture’s new “Give Me Liberty” exhibition, a man’s voice was registering anger — loudly enough that it threatened to drown out the director of curatorial affairs, Andy Talkov, who was giving a tour.
Just four days before the exhibition’s opening last month, Talkov was explaining the significance of one of the objects viewers will see when they enter the first of two second-floor galleries holding the exhibit. It is a Charles Willson Peale portrait of George Washington. But this one is different from the other six Peale portraits of the first president. Painted in 1772, it shows a younger man, dressed in the blue and red uniform of a provincial officer — which he had been, loyally serving the king of England, during the French and Indian War.
Like many others, Washington’s views would, of course, change over the next few years — as the exhibition shows.
But wait: That angry voice seems to grow louder, if still unintelligible — and is now joined by the murmuring of others. A meeting gone wrong? Someone on the museum staff having a bad day?
“Oh,” Talkov said matter-of-factly when the din threatening to drown him out momentarily subsided. “That’s Patrick Henry.” READ ON NEW YORK TIMES