Scenic Overmantelc. 178029 1/4 x 47 1/4 x 1 1/2 "
Frame: 33 5/8 x 51 1/2 x 1 1/2 "Oil on pine panel with beveled edgesGift of Ralph Esmerian2013.1.200Town landscape with gardens and horses forefront (including yellow house with round windows, grey house with sloped roof) two figures front center surveying lands (wearing red coat, tricorn hat, walking stick) large town behind greenery with cupola and two steepled buildings. River to right with large municipal type building with large grounds. Hills surround, to sky. In molded wood frame.
15477039712013.24.20P1.2001.55Winthrop ChandlerPaintingsThe American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain.PetershamPetershamUnited StatesMassachusettsThree Dimensional WorksPaintingsPetershamJean Lipman and Alice Winchester, "Flowering of American Folk Art," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (Viking Press: 1974) 261.
"Winthrop Chandler" by Nina Fletcher Little, Art in America, April 1947, pp.89, 156-158.
American Decorative Wall Painting: 1700-1850, by Nina Fletcher Little, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1977, pp. 28, 55, and 155.
Maine Antiques Digest, December 1989, p. 26AOnce the American landscape was visibly improved—by altering an original state of nature into one that was useful to man—it became a subject of interest to landowners and artists. Winthrop Chandler was one of the first American artists to visually engage with the landscape in a number of overmantels and portraits that he painted for relatives and neighbors in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The overmantel for his cousin John Chandler in Petersham, Massachusetts, however, seems to tell a story that is closely allied to the concept of original genius.
The landscape is stratified into three levels. In the foreground is a desolate and rocky terrain, with inexplicable stepped paths. The middle ground is a neat arrangement of plantings, laid out in geometric formality. The background features an Italianate landscape that resembles the city of Florence, a center of artistic prospering during the Renaissance. A metaphorical reading of this scene evokes Enlightenment writings by Edward Young, Alexander Gerard, and William Duff, all of whom used the language of landscape as a symbolic device to express their ideas. The rocky terrain of the foreground is Young’s “barren waste” from which the “blooming spring” of original genius is to be wrested. Inspiration might flourish amid the untrodden paths of a primeval forest, but in the scheme of the Scottish Enlightenment, it would fly into incoherence unless reined in by taste, perhaps signified by the “improved” landscape of the middle ground. The Italianate scene in the distance represents the great achievements of the past, to whose heights the genius might aspire but which must be reached through original thought.
Stacy C. Hollander, “Scenic Overmantel,” exhibition label for Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum. Stacy C. Hollander and Valérie Rousseau, curators. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2014.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org
This is one of at least eight overmantels painted by Connecticut artist Winthrop Chandler, who is best known for his imposing portraits of family relations and friends in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Many of his overmantels portray imaginary vistas that nevertheless incorporate typical New England architecture and landscapes, with houses painted in bright colors and window frames and corner boards outlined in white. This example was painted for the artist’s cousin, John Chandler (1742–1794), a wealthy merchant in Petersham, Massachusetts. Family tradition maintained that it portrayed London Bridge and the surrounding area before the Great Fire of 1666. However, it is more likely a romanticized view of the Italian city of Florence.
Overmantels, or chimney pieces, were either set directly into the woodwork over a mantel or painted on a separate panel and wall-hung. They received some of the earliest landscapes painted in America, often representing the actual properties of a wealthy landowner or the scene of a significant event in the homeowner’s life.
Stacy C. Hollander, "Scenic Overmantel," exhibition label for Jubilation|Rumination: Life, Real and Imagined. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2012.Painted by Winthrop Chandler for the home of his cousin John Chandler (1742-1794), Petersham, Massachusetts. Descended with house which remained in Chandler family until mid-19th century. Passed with property sales through the Lippett and Bennett families. Home purchased by the family of an anonymous seller in 1917 (Skinner 1989) (M/M Moore?). "The John Chandler house was built in 1764, also known as Deer Far. This painting was mounted above the fireplace in the northwest parlor or "green room," this panel descended with the Chandler family until the mid-nineteenth century.The fireplace was the focal point of most early American homes. By the early decades of the eighteenth century the areas surrounding the hearth began to receive painted embellishments. Chimneypieces, or overmantels, were set directly into the woodwork over a mantel or painted on a separate panel and then wall-hung. These received some of the earliest landscapes painted in America. Sometimes the depictions played a symbolic role, representing the actual properties of a wealthy landowner, or the scene of a significant event in the homeowner’s life. This is one of at least eight overmantels painted by Connecticut artist Winthrop Chandler, who is best known for his imposing portraits of family relations and friends in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Many of his overmantels portray imaginary vistas that nevertheless incorporate typical New England architecture and landscapes, with houses painted in bright colors and window frames and corner boards outlined in white. This example was painted for the artist’s cousin, John Chandler (1742–1794), a wealthy merchant in Petersham. Family tradition maintained that it portrayed London Bridge and the surrounding area before the Great Fire of 1666. However, it is more likely a romanticized view of the Italian city of Florence.2013.24.20P1.2001.5517751785 2013 1 20 Once the American landscape was visibly improved—by altering an original state of nature into one that was useful to man—it became a subject of interest to landowners and artists. Winthrop Chandler was one of the first American artists to visually engage with the landscape in a number of overmantels and portraits that he painted for relatives and neighbors in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The overmantel for his cousin John Chandler in Petersham, Massachusetts, however, seems to tell a story that is closely allied to the concept of original genius.
The landscape is stratified into three levels. In the foreground is a desolate and rocky terrain, with inexplicable stepped paths. The middle ground is a neat arrangement of plantings, laid out in geometric formality. The background features an Italianate landscape that resembles the city of Florence, a center of artistic prospering during the Renaissance. A metaphorical reading of this scene evokes Enlightenment writings by Edward Young, Alexander Gerard, and William Duff, all of whom used the language of landscape as a symbolic device to express their ideas. The rocky terrain of the foreground is Young’s “barren waste” from which the “blooming spring” of original genius is to be wrested. Inspiration might flourish amid the untrodden paths of a primeval forest, but in the scheme of the Scottish Enlightenment, it would fly into incoherence unless reined in by taste, perhaps signified by the “improved” landscape of the middle ground. The Italianate scene in the distance represents the great achievements of the past, to whose heights the genius might aspire but which must be reached through original thought.
Stacy C. Hollander, “Scenic Overmantel,” exhibition label for Self-Taught Genius: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum. Stacy C. Hollander and Valérie Rousseau, curators. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2014.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.
To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org
This is one of at least eight overmantels painted by Connecticut artist Winthrop Chandler, who is best known for his imposing portraits of family relations and friends in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Many of his overmantels portray imaginary vistas that nevertheless incorporate typical New England architecture and landscapes, with houses painted in bright colors and window frames and corner boards outlined in white. This example was painted for the artist’s cousin, John Chandler (1742–1794), a wealthy merchant in Petersham, Massachusetts. Family tradition maintained that it portrayed London Bridge and the surrounding area before the Great Fire of 1666. However, it is more likely a romanticized view of the Italian city of Florence.
Overmantels, or chimney pieces, were either set directly into the woodwork over a mantel or painted on a separate panel and wall-hung. They received some of the earliest landscapes painted in America, often representing the actual properties of a wealthy landowner or the scene of a significant event in the homeowner’s life.
Stacy C. Hollander, "Scenic Overmantel," exhibition label for Jubilation|Rumination: Life, Real and Imagined. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2012.Painted by Winthrop Chandler for the home of his cousin John Chandler (1742-1794), Petersham, Massachusetts. Descended with house which remained in Chandler family until mid-19th century. Passed with property sales through the Lippett and Bennett families. Home purchased by the family of an anonymous seller in 1917 (Skinner 1989) (M/M Moore?). "The John Chandler house was built in 1764, also known as Deer Far. This painting was mounted above the fireplace in the northwest parlor or "green room," this panel descended with the Chandler family until the mid-nineteenth century.The fireplace was the focal point of most early American homes. By the early decades of the eighteenth century the areas surrounding the hearth began to receive painted embellishments. Chimneypieces, or overmantels, were set directly into the woodwork over a mantel or painted on a separate panel and then wall-hung. These received some of the earliest landscapes painted in America. Sometimes the depictions played a symbolic role, representing the actual properties of a wealthy landowner, or the scene of a significant event in the homeowner’s life. This is one of at least eight overmantels painted by Connecticut artist Winthrop Chandler, who is best known for his imposing portraits of family relations and friends in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Many of his overmantels portray imaginary vistas that nevertheless incorporate typical New England architecture and landscapes, with houses painted in bright colors and window frames and corner boards outlined in white. This example was painted for the artist’s cousin, John Chandler (1742–1794), a wealthy merchant in Petersham. Family tradition maintained that it portrayed London Bridge and the surrounding area before the Great Fire of 1666. However, it is more likely a romanticized view of the Italian city of Florence.