PieceDutch Boy
Year1956
ConditionC-7
Description12" cloth/vinyl
CompanyThe Sherwin-Williams Co.



The smiling Dutch Boy with his overalls and cap and wooden shoes is almost as familiar a figure as that other Dutch boy from the fairy tales -- the one who plugged the dike with his finger. But instead of just one act of heroism, this Dutch Boy has been helping generations of Americans paint their homes and businesses for nearly a century.

In 1907, a consortium of white lead manufacturers, newly combined under the name of The National Lead Company, were looking for a symbol to unite them. As the finest white lead manufacturers, using what was called the "dutch method" of processing, and also because the people of Holland had a worldwide reputation for keeping their homes immaculately white-washed, they decided upon a little dutch boy. Artist Rudolf Yook, an illustrator of Dutch ancestry, came up with the initial sketches of a little boy dressed in overalls and carrying a paint bucket and brush. The finishing touches to the character came when the company commissioned noted artist Lawrence Carmichael Earl to paint an oil portrait of the Dutch boy. Earl used as his model a little Irish boy from his own neighborhood. That little boy grew up to become Michael Brady, a well-known political cartoon artist.

The Dutch Boy never grew up, but he became one of America's most well-known and well-liked children.

This hand puppet from 1956 was used to introduce a new line of Dutch Boy Paints, and was distributed free with the purchase of a gallon of paint.



View This Item in its Exhibit Case