| Maker(s): | Havell, Jr., Robert | | Culture: | American (1793-1878)
| | Title: | The Old House of the Rev. Mr. Williams which escaped the Conflagration in Deerfield, Mass., in 1704
| | Date Made: | circa 1840
| | Type: | Painting
| | Materials: | oil, canvas, wood, gilding
| | Place Made: | United States; Massachusetts; Deerfield
| | Measurements: | overall: 47 1/2 in x 61 1/2 in; 120.65 cm x 156.21 cm
| | Accession Number: | HD 85.030
| | Credit Line: | Museum Purchase with funds provided by Mrs. Max Adler, Dr. S. Arthur Localio, Hon. J. William Middendorf, Mrs. Alexander O. Vietor, Jeptha H. Wade, an anonymous donor, and the Frary House Collections Fund
| | Museum Collection: | Historic Deerfield
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Description:
Framed painting of the "Old House" by Robert Havell Jr. (1793-1878), which is inscribed on the back: "The Old House of the Revnd Mr. Williams / which escaped the Conflagration at Deerfield in 1704. / Painted by Robt Havell." This painting was exhibited at the Crystal Palace in New York City in 1853, gallery number 385. According to Miss Ellen R. Wheeler, her grandfather, Julian S. Ramsey, bought the painting in New York City in 1862; he took it to Chicago where it was saved from the Chicago fire in October 1871. Miss Wheeler received the painting in the early 1950's from another family member in California, where it had been since 1922. HD also has a similar painting titled "Williams House Deerfield" (HD 2002.13). English-born Robert Havell, aquatint engraver and landscape painter, is better remembered as the principal engraver of John James Audubon's "Birds of America," on which he worked in England from 1827 to 1838. He emigrated to America in 1839, living with Audubon in Brooklyn, NY, for 2 years and visiting the Connecticut Valley about 1840. In 1841, Havell and his family moved to Sing Sing (now Ossining, NY) where they lived to 1857, and then moved to Terrytown where Havell lived and painted until his death in 1878. This is a romantic landscape of the Main Street in Deerfield with the house known as the "Old Indian House" in the background, which was built about 1698 by John Sheldon (1658-1733), son of one of the original Deerfield lot owners. This house was famous for surviving the Indian attack on Deerfield in 1704, and the movement to stop its demolition (unsuccessful) in 1848 marked the first attempt at historic preservation in America. The green in front of the Old Indian House with its tall mature shade trees has three cows; a woman and child walking along the path leading off Main Street; a turbaned African-American woman playing with a dog by the side of the Street; a woman sitting side-sadle on a horse next to a man on a horse exchanging something with a man standing by him; and groups of people under a tree in the right foreground.
Label Text:
Robert Havell, Jr., known as the engraver of all but 10 plates of John James Audubon’s Birds of America, painted this romantic view of “The Old House … which escaped the Conflagration at Deerfield in 1704” sometime before the iconic c. 1699 Old Indian House (also known as the Ensign John Sheldon House) was razed in 1848. Made famous by withstanding the French and Indian Raid in Deerfield on February 29, 1704, the Old Indian House became a place of interest for travelers during the 18th and 19thcenturies. For Deerfield residents, the old house was a daily reminder of the town’s violent early history. It is unknown whether Havell heard that the “ancient relic” was threatened with demolition or if he encountered it on his travels and was moved to capture on canvas this poignant monument from Deerfield’s past. The effort to save the Old Indian House is now considered one of the earliest, albeit failed, efforts at historic preservation in the United States.
Subjects:
Canvas Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+85.030 |
