Unusual Wall Paintings Found in Old Griswold House
The finest wall paintings in the State”, according to Wayland W. Williams, the Director of the Federal Art Project for Connecticut, are those in the parlor of the old Abiel Griswold house (1792) on Poquonock Avenue in Windsor. This square, hip-roofed house is in exceptionally unspoiled condition, in spire of some alterations.
A tenant family were about to paper over the walls when it was discovered that the paintings were really unique. A little research, too, convinced the wife of the present owner, Ford W. Ransom of Windsor, that the house was that of one of her ancestors. So that the paintings are now going to be preserved. The three unpaneled walls of the parlor are all covered with a wreath design encircling bouquets of different kinds of flowers. Conventionalized strings of flowers separate the different tiers. Underneath these a painted wainscot simulates the raised panels that might be found in a house of this period.
But the unusual feature is four painted medallions that hang like oval paintings on the walls, amid the wreaths. Two on the inner wall represent a stiff little man with cocked hat and walking stick—perhaps a portrait of the owner—and a village of white houses, with tree-lined common and huge birds overhead. The other medallions represent a hip-roofed house—also perhaps a portrait—with figures in the foreground; and a scene which is the most intriguing of all. Under a stiff, bushy tree, with three rather weak looking sheep and a dejected cow at their feet, sits a very erect young man with a very abashed young lady on his knees. A house, different from the Griswold house, is on a slight hill in the background. The spirit of eighteenth century provincial art was never better represented than in this medallion. The freedom of the style, and luxuriousness of the wreaths was entirely lost in an unnatural constraint when the artist made an attempt at human portraiture.
The stair hall is also lavishly decorated with bouquets of flowers in a diamond pattern.
It is not known who these wall painters were. Stimpson Washington is the only one known by name. Probably he was an itinerant, and it is possible, though unlikely, that he advertised in one of the papers. If so we may sometime learn who was working in Windsor in 1792. But whoever he was, he was a pioneer. If these paintings are of the age of the house, they are among the earliest in Connecticut.