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I am very excited to offer this commanding pair of folk portraits by Asahel Lynde Powers.  This is 73 year old Daniel Griswold of Springfield, Vermont and his tenth and youngest child Louisa Griswold Field, purportedly painted in her wedding dress when she was 27 years old.  These very important portraits were exhibited at Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum in 1973 as part of the exhibit "Asahel Powers-Painter of Vermont Faces."  They are pictured and discussed in the exhibit catalog, Asahel Powers-Painter of Vermont Faces, written by Nina Fletcher Little.  They are also discussed in American Folk Painters of Three Centuries, edited by Jean Lipman and Tom Armstrong.

First, a little about this important American folk artist, Asahel Lynde Powers.  Asahel Lynde Powers was born February 28, 1813 in Springfield, Vermont.  By the young age of 18, Asahel had already begun his career as a portrait painter.  The earliest dated portrait known Powers' portrait is dated 1831.  He spent the next decade of his life traveling throughout Vermont and neighboring states as a successful itinerant portraitist.  Powers' early work is rich in colorful detail and strong facial delineation.  Heavy shadowing of facial features, an absence of modeling and highlights, and an obvious unfamiliarity with the elements of anatomy and perspective are key features of Powers' earliest and most powerful style.  Like most folk artists of the early to mid-19th century, Powers delighted in painting costume details and working with his strong sense of decorative design.  His work has been described as innovative, imaginative, and experimental."  He tried new backgrounds and color effects throughout his career and his compositions show a definite progression toward more accomplished styles.  His use of individual accessories is of particular interest to collectors.  He started his career painting oil on wood board, as with these portraits, and began using oil and canvas when he started his itinerant work, likely because canvas was so much more portable than heavy wood panels.  By 1840, Powers had left Vermont for New York, where he apparently married.  He later moved to Illinois, apparently without his wife since when he died in 1841, Elizabeth M. Powers filed documents to administer Powers estate in Plattsburg, New York.

These portraits of Daniel Griswold and his daughter Louisa display Powers' wonderful use of accessories and color.  Daniel's spectacles, pushed up into his grey hair and the strongly sculpted white shirt, cravat & tie and shirt collar are key visual elements to this strong portrait.  The leather bound book with the marbled covers in Daniel's hand proudly displays Daniel's age with  "Æ 73" and adds another bit of color to the somber tones of Daniel's dark clothing.

Daniel's daughter, Louisa is dressed in her bright green wedding dress (at least a later inscription on the reverse claims it to be her wedding dress).  Her scarf is delicately patterned and lightly fringed.  She wears a beaded necklace, gold brooch with either beaded or pearl edge, and large tortoise-shell hair comb.  The dramatic background of shaded pink and blue gives the impression of a sunset, picks up the pink coloration of Louisa's skin and the pink touches in her shawl.  This background is unlike any other in Powers' known paintings.

Daniel Griswold was born December 5, 1762 to John Griswold and Mary Ward Griswold in Meriden, Connecticut.  His family immigrated from England to Connecticut about 1645.  Daniel's father died when Daniel was fourteen years old.  He was recruited into the army at sixteen and fought at a skirmish in New Haven, Connecticut.  In 1784, Daniel purchased land in Springfield, Vermont  In 1786, Daniel married Annah Lenthal Ames, a tailoress in Connecticut.  In 1790, Daniel and Annah moved from Connecticut to Daniel's land in Vermont with an ox team and a ten day journey.  Daniel continued to purchase land until he became one of the largest land owners in Springfield.  Although a later inscription on the back of Daniel's portrait claims that he was a tavern owner, a biography written by Louisa's son, Fred Field, said that Daniel was a highway surveyor, lister and tithingman, grand juror, fence viewer and selectman.  Tavern owner is not mentioned.  However, I have found that a Springfield house that was built by Daniel's son, Joel, was kept as a tavern although it is unclear whether Joel Griswold was the tavern owner or whether he had already sold the building.   Fred wrote, "Grandfather and Grandmother were very hospitable, their latch string was always out, and their table always spread for the guest or stranger.  The very generous treatment of their friends, and the addition of eight healthy, hearty, handsome, buxom girls couldn't fail even in this then sparsely settled community to gather in, not only their neighbors, but young men and maidens for miles around to spend an afternoon or evening."  Field, Fred G., A Brief History and Genealogical Sketch of the First Daniel Griswold of Springfield, Vermont, Stiles' Reporter Job Printing Rooms, 1880.   Daniel Griswold died August 4, 1836, one year and 3 days after Asahel Powers painted his portrait.

Louisa Griswold, the tenth and last child of Daniel and Annah Griswold, was born on December 5, 1807, her father's 45th birthday.  She married Abner Field on February 16, 1832.  Her portrait is not dated, but assuming her age was indeed 27, as indicated by the inscription "Æ 27" in the bottom left corner of the painting, her portrait may have been painted in 1834, the year before Daniel's.  Even assuming a portrait date of 1834, she sat for the portrait two years after her wedding.  The lovely green dress may still have been her wedding dress as few 19th century women could afford the luxury of a one-occasion dress.  Their wedding dresses, could they afford such a dress at all, would have become their best dresses, used for special occasions, such as sitting for their portraits.  Louisa & Abner Field had four children.  Louisa lived in Springfield, VT all of her life and died there on August 15, 1884.

The portraits of Daniel and Louisa Griswold and four other Griswold and Field (Louisa's inlaws) family members have signatures "painted by powers & Rice" on the fronts.  The reverse of Daniel's portrait is signed "painted by / Powers. & Rice / August 1.st 1835" in a flowery script that would be used by Powers during the next five years.  The identity of Rice and his role in the painting of these few portraits is still a mystery.  By 1836, Powers was again signing paintings with his name alone.  However, the other Griswold-Field portraits (in the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History) are dated 1837 and signed by both Powers and Rice.  Nina Fletcher Little speculated that "Rice" was Daniel Rice who, her research showed, was the only male "Rice" listed in Springfield, Vermont at the time the Griswold portraits were painted.  Daniel Rice had been a traveling bookseller and later became a writer and publisher of several books illustrated with fine hand-painted steel engravings.  No one knows what part Rice played in the painting of portraits which all strongly show Powers style.  (I am not sure that Ms. Little was correct in her findings that Daniel Rice was the only "Rice" in Springfield at the time of the portraits.  I have found a book titled History of the Town of Springfield, Vermont by Charles Horace Hubbard & Justus Dartt.  The book indicates that Edward Rice & Harriett Ward were married in Springfield in 1826.  There are also several notations about Rice women being married in the 1820s and 1830s in Springfield.  While all of those Rice women may have moved to Springfield from elsewhere, it is likely that some were born there of other Rice men.)  Ms. Little guessed that Powers and Rice might have jointly painted the portraits or their connection might have been based on Rice's interest in illustrative art.  Some have speculated that Rice made the frames and Powers painted the portraits, but no evidence has been found that Rice was a framemaker.

These important portraits are nailed into their original frames with the original square nails still present.  The frames were built for the portraits.  There are no rabbets to the frames which lay directly against the wood panels of the portraits.  Daniel's portrait measures 29 1/2" x 36".  Louisa's portrait measures 30" x 36".  There are expected hairline cracks that do not detract from the portraits at all.  Daniel has very minor scuffing to his jacket.  The scuffing has existed since before the portraits were exhibited a the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum as you can see it in the exhibit catalog.  I must say, however, the scuffing shows up to a much greater extent in photos than in real life.  Please email for a complete condition report (including a scan of the condition reports from the files of Colonial Williamsburg where the portraits were logged in for the exhibit in 1973) and for the price.  Included with the purchase will be a copy of the exhibit catalog Asahel Powers-Painter of Vermont Faces written by Nina Fletcher Little; and a folder of genealogical information; a downloaded copy of A Brief History and Genealogical Sketch of the First Daniel Griswold, by Fred G. Field; select pages downloaded from History of the Town of Springfield, Vermont, by Charles Horace Hubbard & Justus Dartt, including a chapter about North Springfield written by Louisa Griswold Field; and all other information I can round up.

(#4361)     Sold

Exhibited:  Ashahel Powers-Painter of Vermont Faces, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum 1973.

Published:  Little, Nina Fletcher, Asahel Powers-Painter of Vermont Faces.  The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1973.  Plates 37 & 38, pages 38-39.

Discussed in Lipman, Jean, Armstrong, Tom, eds., American Folk Painters of Three Centuries.  Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, 1980. 156.

Please see the Folk Portrait Artists page for more information about Asahel Lynde Powers.

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