Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church

Art of the Month

Saying Grace (1951)

ARTWORK: Saying Grace
ARTIST: Norman Rockwell - Biography
BORN: February 3, 1894 in Manhattan, New York
DIED: November 8, 1978 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Norman Rockwell was known for capturing America on canvas. Many of his paintings were featured on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post magazine including this one he painted for the Thanksgiving cover for the November 24, 1951 issue. although Rockwell was not known as a painter of religious topics, some of his paintings did capture the faith of his subjects much like this one.

He got the idea for the painting while at a small town restaurant and noticed a Mennonite Family praying before they ate their meal. Rockwell found this rather interesting and watched the faces of those seated around the family as they prayed in public, not worrying about what others would think.

When Rockwell painted the picture, he actually used his son, Jarvis as the model for the boy in the painting.

Rockwell was paid $3,500 for this painting by the magazine company for their cover. Up until December 2013 it has been on loan to the Norman Rockwell Art Gallery in Massachusetts. Later that same month, the owner auctioned it off bringing in a winning bid of $46 million. It is now in a private collection of the unknown buyer.

See the News Video on the sale of this painting by CLICKING HERE