Two Men Courting Girl's Favor by Norman Rockwell

January 13, 1917 Issue of The Saturday Evening Post

Two Men Courting Girl's Favor, this Norman Rockwell painting, appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post published January 13, 1917.

The illustration has also been called Shall We Dance.

This painting was Rockwell's seventh overall picture out of 322 total featured on the cover of The Post. Rockwell's career with the Post spanned 47 years, from his first cover illustration, Boy With Baby Carriage in 1916 to his last, Portrait of John F. Kennedy, in 1963.

This was also the first Rockwell cover in 1917. The Post featured a Rockwell illustration on its cover a total of four times in 1917.

The location of the original oil on canvas painting is unknown.

This painting is reproduced in one Rockwell commentary book, on page 75 of Norman Rockwell, A Definitive Catalogue by Laurie Norton Moffatt.

This magazine cover, like all Rockwell's earlier published works, is hard to find in pristine (VF or better) condition. The higher grades generally sell for more than one hundred dollars, sometimes much more.

Two Men Courting Girl's Favor

In this Norman Rockwell picture, we see three characters in an amusing situation. All three are dressed for a party.

On the left is the younger man. He actually looks to be a boy. He is holding his dance card in his right hand. His left hand is extended and touching the young girl's shoulder. He is trying to get the attention of his prospective dance partner.

The younger man is dressed in a suit and tie. Yet he seems somewhat underdressed compared to the older man.

Will he be able to draw the young lady's attention away from the man in the tuxedo?

The young girl appears to be relatively the same age as the younger man. She seems entranced by the man seated with her on the couch.

She wears a white dress and a pink ribbon in her hair. Rockwell only has three colors to work with on the Post cover illustrations of the time.So the pink ribbon is actually several different shades of red.

We do not know from the picture just how long the younger man has been trying to pry her away from her rapt attention to the older man.

The older man appears to be the age of a college student. He is spinning a story, true or fabricated, that is fascinating to the younger girl.

While the younger man is dressed in a suit and neck tie, this gentleman appears to be wearing a tuxedo with white tie.

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