About Painter's Folly
Painter’s Folly is a c. 1856-1857 Italianate house located in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. Painter’s Folly is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is situated in the Chadds Ford Historic District and the Brandywine Battlefield Historic District.
Painter’s Folly is significant for its connection to American art and the artistic interpretation of the Battle of the Brandywine.
Famed American illustrator Howard Pyle operated a summer art school from 1898 to 1903 while residing at Painter’s Folly. Students of Pyle’s Chadds Ford summer school included Clifford Ashley, John V. Betts, Bertha Corson Day, Angel De Cora, Clyde O. DeLand, Emlen McConnell, Thornton Oakley, Frank Schoonover, and Newell Convers Wyeth.
Beginning in 1989, Painter’s Folly served as an art studio and refuge for Andrew Wyeth and was the subject of multiple titled and untitled works by Wyeth over the course of twenty years.
The property, purchased by Chadds Ford Township in 2018 using Open Space funds, is closed to the public and at risk of being sold in a public auction.
