Special Exhibition “Cost of Revolution” at the Museum of the American Revolution

The Museum of the American Revolution is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In my honest opinion, it's the best museum to visit if you want to learn all about the American Revolution. You can learn more about our visit to the museum by checking out this blog post right here on the blog.

Tickets Now on Sale for 2019-2020 Special Exhibition “Cost of Revolution” at the Museum of the American Revolution, September 28th, 2019 through February 17th, 2020.

Based on new discoveries made by the Museum’s curators, Cost of Revolution tells the untold story of Richard St. George, an Irish soldier and artist whose personal trauma and untimely death provide a window into the entangled histories of the American Revolution and the ensuing Irish Revolution of 1798.

“You may not have heard the name Richard St. George before, but you’ll be astonished by what his life can tell us about America and Ireland in the Age of Revolutions,” said Dr. R. Scott Stephenson, President and CEO of the Museum of the American Revolution. “This exhibit extends the Museum’s internationally acclaimed story-driven approach onto the global stage to examine the broader influence of the American Revolution through St. George’s remarkable personal journey.”

As a young officer in the British Army, Richard St. George crossed the Atlantic in 1776 to try and stop the growing American Revolution. He returned home to Ireland after surviving a severe headwound at the Battle of Germantown, near Philadelphia, in 1777. Back in Ireland, he found his native country roiled by the effects of the revolutionary spirit sweeping across America and Europe. St. George became an outspoken critic of the growing movement to establish an Irish republic independent from the British Empire in the 1790s. A few months before the outbreak of the Irish Revolution of 1798, St. George’s tenants ambushed and killed him.

The 5,000-square-foot exhibition will chronicle St. George’s dramatic journey with more than 100 artifacts, manuscripts, and works of art from Australia, Ireland, England, and the United States, many of which will be on display in America for the first time. It will also present one of the largest collections of objects from Ireland’s 18th-century revolutionary history and war for independence ever displayed in Philadelphia.

Five portraits of Richard St. George—created over the span of 25 years—are known to survive and will be reunited in this exhibit for the first time since they left the possession of St. George’s descendants more than a century ago. Every known piece of surviving artwork by St. George himself—including cartoons, sketches from his military service in America, and a self-portrait—also will be assembled for the first time in this exhibit. Together, the portraits, cartoons, and sketches reveal the physical and emotional toll of revolution.

Cost of Revolution is included with regular Museum admission of $21 for general admission; $18 for seniors, active duty military, students and teachers; $13 for youth (ages 6-17), and free for ages 5 and under. Group rates are available. Audio tours are an additional $5. Tickets can be purchased by calling 215.253.6731 or www.amrevmuseum.org.

Note: All photographs used in this feature are courtesy of  Museum of the American Revolution and used with permission.