This painting depicting the midnight ride of Paul Revere was commissioned by the visual arts program Federal Art Project (FAP), which was created under the Works Progress Administration as part of the New Deal. Artist Aiden Lassell Ripley painted it in the Lexington branch post office in Massachusetts.
The Federal Art Project started on August 29, 1935, and closed on June 30, 1943. It was designed to employ struggling artists during the Great Depression, and to aesthetically improve local government buildings such as schools, hospitals, and libraries. This program transitioned into the Federal Works Agency in 1939. The Federal Works Agency provided patronage for this painting under the Public Buildings Administration’s “Paintings and Sculptures for Public Buildings” program.
