James K. Van Brunt

James Kellogg Van Brunt (December 25, 1849 – February 9, 1935)

Rockwell used Van Brunt as a model so often that the Post editors started complaining.[5]

Van Brunt's covers

The following is a list of The Saturday Evening Post covers for which Van Brunt modeled:^[5]

• The Hobo, October 18, 1924
• Crossword Puzzles, January 31, 1925
• The Old Sign Painter, February 6, 1926
  • The first cover after Van Brunt had shaved off his mustache, for which Rockwell paid him $10 to do in order to continue using him as a model^[5]
• The Phrenologist, March 27, 1926
• The Bookworm, August 14, 1926
• Dreams of Long Ago, August 13, 1927
  • Van Brunt was a widower, but still apparently mourned for Annabelle, his late wife. Rockwell's painting, Dreams of Long Ago, was a result of Rockwell inadvertently barging in on Van Brunt remembering his trip with Annabelle to the
    1893 Columbian Exposition
    in Chicago.
• Gilding the Eagle, May 26, 1928
• The Wedding March, June 23, 1928
  • This is the next-to-last cover in which Van Brunt appears. According to the book Norman Rockwell and The Saturday Evening Post: The Early Years, he appeared in one more cover, that of January 12, 1929, as three gossiping old ladies.

References