Oversized item, please contact the gallery before purchasing to determine shipping cost.

American, 20th Century

Signed: Wilbur Wright (Lower, Right)

" Fee Villa ", 1933

(Moscow, Ohio)

Oil on Canvas

30" x 40"

Housed in a 3 5/8" Frame

Overall Size: 37" x 47"

Light stretcher marks, in otherwise good original condition.

Robert E. Fee, a member of the founding family of Moscow, Ohio, was born in 1796 and devoted his life to the abolitionist cause. Sometime in 1842, a runaway slave named Fanny Wigglesworth, who settled in Clermont County, was kidnapped. Fee made several unsuccessful attempts to rescue Wigglesworth and her children. The kidnapping of the Wigglesworth family outraged members of the Moscow community. Their kidnapping further motivated him to help runaway slaves. Sitting on the bank of the Ohio River, Robert Fee’s mansion served as a beacon from the distant shores of Kentucky. A light or lantern was placed in an upstairs window to let runaway slaves know it was safe to cross the river. Once runaway slaves made it to the river, Robert Fee and his family hid runaways until they could be safeguarded through a network of Underground Railroad conductors in Moscow, Ohio.