Texas Capitol Historical Art Collection
(above: Elijah E. Myers, Texas Capitol, 1882, watercolor and ink, 41 x 64 inches, Collection of The State Preservation Board, Austin, Texas, 1989.77)
Congress Avenue at Eleventh Street
Austin, Texas
512-463-0063
Treasured Artworks at the Texas Capitol
William Henry Huddle, Surrender of Santa Anna
William Henry Huddle, Surrender of Santa Anna, 1890, oil on canvas, 72 x 114 inches, 1989.46. Collection of The State Preservation Board, Austin, Texas.
The canvas "Surrender of Santa Anna" was completed by William Henry Huddle half a century after the Battle of San Jacinto. It is reported that Huddle used photographs of the men depicted in the painting. This may account for the fact that many of the men who were young in 1836 appear at a more mature stage of life in the painting.
The painting is in a stiff Germanic style, probably due to the influence of Huddle's studies in Germany. It is of great historical interest to Texans, as many of the men who were leaders of the Republic of Texas and the early State of Texas are depicted in the painting.
The 72 x 114 inch painting was purchased by the 22nd Legislature of Texas in 1891 for $4,000.
William Henry Huddle was born on February 12, 1847 in Wytheville, Virginia. He grew up in Virginia and Tennessee. Huddle spent two years in the Confederate Army and in 1866 moved to Paris, Texas. He was a gunsmith and studied art for a few years; then he left Texas to study art in Nashville and New York.
Huddle returned to Texas to live in Austin in 1877. From 1884 to 1886 he studied art in Munich, Germany, and afterwards lived in Austin until his death in 1892.
Besides "Surrender of Santa Anna," other paintings
for which Huddle is known are "David Crockett" and a series of
portraits of the presidents of the Republic of Texas and seventeen Texas
governors. These portraits also hang in the Capitol.
Return to the Texas State Capitol Art Collection.
rev. 8.10.04.
rev. 11/1/10
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