Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1871-04-19
4 Home Artist.

That q prophet Is without honor in his Owl
country is not entirely true Of our townsan
Mr.. TnoNs W. Woop whom most Of our peo
Pile well know to be one Of the most successful
portrait and landscape painters in the country
But for the sake of more fully setting lorth NJ
merits-his labors and successive copy below
the principal portions Of an exceedingly well pre-
nared article in the last number OF Our Lee
turcs.n
Amer describing the appropriate and charming
.,,,da. If the artst--ATHENwooD-oy
,be lawn from an emnence just across the riyel
an The Mortified road and some personal au
sions, the writer proceeds
With the true artists feeling he welcomes tc
his house OF to his studio sincere lovers Of art
even though they bring him no commissions, and
have TO leave his presence regretting their nabil-
ty 10 become possessors of az least one of his pic
lures. So let us enter and sec what work he has
now in hand A southern plantation sccne,- -ne-
groes in the c0rnlied three or four landscape
studies from nature -gens and waterfalls OF
Vermont few among thousands "a hnely
painted copy Of " Cupid Captive = lew photo
graphs Of pictures which have passed from the
artists hand decorate the walls pom the
table are a few choice volumes richly Illustrated,
no doubt with engmyngs OF chJs d0urres 4,
while the window 10 the north frames in a
fine view Of a portion OF one OF the prettest
villages Of the State, and altogether the in
terror of Athenwood peases US as much as its cx-
terior n our visit be toward the close Of the
season We may 10 shown, besides a portrait or
two still needing the last finishing touches Of the
pencil one or more genre pictures ready 10 be
framed with still others in more or less forward
state This brings Us to speak Of the particular
field in art 10 which Mr.. Wood mainly confines
himself The necessity Of making his art pay,
and that, too, at once, induced him, We suppose,
10 devote himself almost exclusively for some
years to the painting vt portraits OF which
hundred- from his hand may he found, not alone
here where he is best known and where his sue
cess is matter Of pride and graduation among
his friends and townsmen, but in drawing rooms
and libraries in most Of the States Vt the Union.
We do not presume 10 speak with the authority
Of acritic or TO point out wherein the excellence
Of Mr. W 001's portraits consists it is sufficient
for Us TO mention the satisfaction with which their
possossOrs regard them as faithful delneations Of
the faces Of dearly loved ones, Of which, per-
chance. they may Dc the most precious souvenirs
left. Better than marble slab or granite shaft
NOR enduring, more consoing TO the stricken
heart is fine picture Of a dead friend. The pho
tOgrnph is good, but the brush Of a real artist
ike on canvas that something in the countenance
which most endears the subject to US, and repro
dnccs that best expression Of all, the one which
we have contemplated with most satisfaction
Little by little, pictures Of everyday LIE, forms
and faces Of marked character, groups, the figures
ofwhich are 30 disposed that description seemed
required for full understanding Of the story the
artist would tell found place on his easel. and
purchasers when finished. The number of such
picture painted by Mr.. Wood, we have no means
OF knowing, but presume that they may be reck-
oned by dozens. a few Of them we have been
fortunate enough to see The FIRST painted ten
year ago or more, represents a fresh and dainty
looking woman crossing dmnutlye brook un-
der the dropping branches Of a majestic elm "a
picture OF June. OF other and later productions
We may mention, " The Village Politician, IA
sturdy son OF Vulcan before his forge with paper
IN one hand and the other extended in expressive
gesture as he eXpounds the question of the hour
y Tue listener, whom the artist allows Us in mar-
NATION % supply a." The Farmer "A man OF ]
Toll returning from the field with scythe ON
shoulder when the days work is over The |
Cider Mil, with two workers tasting with
evident satisfaction the pure juice not Of cranes
but Of apples, as it flows from the press
Papa Dinner, IA little girl spreading out
on O fragment of board beneath the refreshing
shade OF bordering woods, the dishes and food
which she has brought with her 10 the bay !
field " Waiting for the Train, "-blue-coat !
ed soldiers at a station, lettering about until |
the time for starting on their way shall come.
the col0r--ergeaut iurlng or unturling a flag /
with its glossy silkcn folds and shining fringe
unstainod and untorn By battle, evidently iud9. /
ing from the veteran look of the men not the first
they have followed into action American Cit. /
xeus, four faces representing the principal
types Of that numerous body a shrewd visaeed |
Yankee whiting stick. phlegmatic German |
WITH huge porcelain pipe, a lively Irishman with
dhudeen IN hat band and shllaeh in hand and
last a " c0lored gentleman contemplating with l
strange mixture Of pride and curiosity the ballot 1
he holds in his hand The C0ntrahand. - =" The |
Recruit, and " The Veteran, ''-compapion mic |
tnres the first, plantation hand reporting him. |
self at the provost marshal's Office, pleased with |
his new found freedom and with a look Of won /
dermont on his rather handsome though duskv /
ee9untenance again we see him % dressed in the |
blue, mounting guard, with musket at jaunty /
GIT shoulder shit and proud and lofty bear /
ing as If fully conscious Of his changed condition
and the h0nors and responsibilities it brings /
finally We see him after service in field and camp
has changed him from raw recruit 10 a veteran |
soldier, and an enemys bullet has carried away
leg his face well expressing how for country and
his race he had shed his blood with a liberal 10y ;
" Goldman, "A chopper, who seems by no
means inclined 20 spare that tree - every de-
tail OF the picture faithfully rendered and final
~, perhaps best Of all, " The Country Doctor -
bearing face kindly and benevolent, as he opens
TIE door OF an humble dwelling 10 he eagerly
welcomed by the anxious mother whose sick boy
sits by the stove, evidently troubled with an
aaGhing tooth or something quite as uncomforta-
bic, while % the mothers dress clinqs Iittle !
girl, with all a child's dependence and trust or
the above pictures, " The Village Politician"
and the three representing The Contraband. 4"
The Recruit and The Veteran" have been
engraved and printed in one of the New York il
= Z
" The Country Doctor was in the spring exhibit
ton of the National Academy in 1859 and was
purchased for $1,000 by the we-known publish
ing firm Of Fields, Osgood 4 Co. 1t was at that
time their purpose to have commenced the publ-
cation OF chrome Autographs by a new process
and the " Country Doctor was undoubtedly
intended to be Of their first, as it certainly
would have been one of the most successful Of
their issues. of his recent pictures, not vet
publicly exhibited, we may mention one which
Il InI apft flal A y.
ton, and another which needs no name, for
none could ial TO recognize in it " The Yankee
feddler. The former represents-in the person ,
OF one Of our Oldest citizens, whose fine form and
venerable presence are quite familiar to US all -
an aged nrmer alone his barn after the harvest
reckoning his gains, or, il may be, planning for a
the future, and suggesting the title by the posi-
ton Of his hands and fingers The latter, still in
complete and OF which we have only seen the pre-
iimlnary studies, will we are confident, attract .
more than ordinary notice when il is ready for
public inspection and judgment O
IL IS much 10 be regretted that all Of Mr.. v
ood pictures IN the possession of Montpelier ,
people are portraits. While some of these are =
exceedingly interesting aside from their value as I
hkehesses, especially those Of children.--it
seems TO us that they do not fully indicate the
versatility OF the artist Citizens of wealth and 4,
refinement might do much worse than 10 occasion u
ally purchase good picture direct from the ar. I
tlst, paying los u q respectable price The adj G
vantage gained in the cultivation of a pure and -
discriminating taste in the minds Of vnnns and y
old would pay hack the cost, while the truth of a
Keats lines, " a
thing Of beauty is joy forever
Us loYeness increases IL will never
Pass into nothingness,"
would be realized. Our State, too, might well
afford TO decorate the walls of the capitol with /
works OF art from the hands of her own sons. 4
Besides Meade's statue of Allen, and Scott's his
torioal paintng--worthily concentrating the :.
yalor and patriotism Of Vermont soldiers-let us
hope that portraits by Mason and Wood, with i