The Rescue of John Wesley from Fire by Willam Smith
date: label: date made
content: n.d.
name: label: depicted
content: Wesley, John
label: depicted
content: Wesley, Samuel
label: publisher
content: Smith, William
notes: label: Description
content: This colored print depicts Anglican minister, theologian and Methodist Church founder John Wesley as a child, being rescued from a fire. At left, a man stands on the shoulders of another taking Wesley from a second story window. At right, another man, Wesley's father, kneels giving thanks for his son's safety. Surrounding men and women assist with putting out the fire and rescuing animals, while others huddle in fear.
label: Description
content: This dramatic story is not apocryphal. The parishioners of Epworth, England, strongly disliked the vicar, Samuel Wesley. An angry mob set fire to the rectory on February 9, 1709. His young son, John, actually was saved through the intervention of neighbors.
label: Description
content: John Wesley (1703-1791) was the founding founder of the Methodist faith. One of England's greatest spiritual leaders, he played a major role in the revival of religion in 18th Century English and Scottish life. He graduated from Christ Church College, Oxford University, in 1720 and later became a fellow. While at Oxford, he became active in a religious club nicknamed the “methodists” by its critics because of their methodical study and devotion. Finding the Anglican bishops unsympathetic and unwilling to open their churches to him, Wesley began an itinerant ministry that lasted more than 50 years. Methodism had a significant impact on society. It brought religion to masses of people who, through the shifts of population brought about by the industrial revolution, were not being reached by the Anglican Church.
label: Description
content: John Wesley, along with his brother Charles, first brought an evangelical brand of methodical Anglicanism to colonial Georgia from 1735 to 1737. Years later, in February 1784, he chartered the first Methodist Church in the United States. Despite the fact that he was an Anglican, Wesley saw the need to provide church structure for his followers after the Anglican Church abandoned its American believers during the American Revolution. The Methodist church expanded rapidly across the American continent. The traditions of open-air services and circuit-riding preachers fit perfectly with the American frontier. By 1830, Methodists formed the largest denomination in the U.S.
label: Description
content: This print was produced by William Smith who was a picture frame manufacturer in Philadelphia from 1856-60. By 1860, he was selling pictures and soon afterwards began selling prints. His products included previously published and original works.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
topic: label: Subject
content: Livestock
label: Subject
content: Horses
label: Subject
content: Costume
label: Subject
content: Pets
label: Subject
content: Architecture, Domestic Buildings
label: Subject
content: Children
label: Subject
content: Architecture
label: Subject
content: Fire Fighting
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
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content: Art
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content: Peters Prints
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content: Domestic Furnishings
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content: Morality & Religious Prints
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Flint, Janet A.. The Way of Good and Evil
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: DL.60.2484
label: catalog number
content: 60.2484
label: accession number
content: 228146
objectType: label: Object Name
content: lithograph
label: Object Type
content: Lithograph
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: image: 19 1/2 in x 25 1/2 in; 49.53 cm x 64.77 cm