Vintage Dutch Boy Paint Advertising Tin Match Holder

Description

1930s die cut lithograph match holder in the shape of the Dutch Boy Painter. This is authentic and has the … more 1930s die cut lithograph match holder in the shape of the Dutch Boy Painter. This is authentic and has the original label inside the bucket that reads "PAT. APPL'D L.T. SAVAGE N.Y. AMER. ART SIGN CO. BROOKLYN, N.Y. " The back of the match holder reads "The Dutch Boy Painter - This attractive little fellow is the trademark on absolutely pure white lead. All general
painting should be done with it. - NATIONAL LEAD COMPANY.”

Few match holders come with such a storied history. Around 1906, a new consortium of white lead manufacturers combined under the name of The National Lead Company, were looking for a symbol to unite them. The National Lead Company decided upon a little Dutch boy as the company used the "Dutch method" of processing and because the Dutch white-washed their homes. Artist Rudolf Yook, an illustrator of Dutch ancestry, drew the initial sketches of a little boy dressed in overalls and carrying a paint bucket and brush. The company then commissioned artist Lawrence Carmichael Earle to paint an oil portrait of the Dutch boy. Earle used a nine year old Irish boy from his neighborhood as his model, Michael E. Brady.

Michael wore the wooden shoes, overalls, and cap for several days to wear them in before first sitting for the portrait. Michael received $2.00 an hour which he quickly spent on soda and candy after each sitting. Before the painting was actually finished the family doctor had to be called in for a painful stomach ache! Posing for the portrait inspired Michael to become an artist himself, later becoming one of his era’s most renowned political cartoonists. less