Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
Cannon House and Wharf |
Place of Origin |
New York, New York |
Artist or Maker |
Budington, Jonathan (c.1779-1823) |
Date |
1792 |
Materials |
Oil on Pine Panel |
Dimension Details |
Height: 44 3/8"; Width: 80" Framed Height: 48"; Width: 84" |
Description |
This oil painting on a pine panel shows a medium eye-level view of buildings along a waterfront beneath an overcast sky. Jonathan Budington was about thirteen years old when he painted this ambitious scene as an overmantel decoration for one of the finest houses in Norwalk, Connecticut, owned by wealthy merchant John Cannon Jr. (1752-1798), son of Captain John Cannon, (1703-1761). The younger Cannon's mansion was built near the harbor after the British burned most of Norwalk to the ground in 1779, and it may be the structure at the end of a tree-lined road depicted in the background of the painting. In the foreground, other new structures overlook the harbor where various vessels are floating, including a large triple-masted sailing ship flying multiple pennants and flags. A stone fort with an oversized American flag is just to the right of center, which may have been the artist's imaginative recreation of a British blockhouse or an Indian fort said to exist in the seventeenth century at present day "Old Fort Point" in East Norwalk. The painting is signed in the lower right: "Jonathan Budington Pinxt | John Cannon | 1792." Budington was listed in New York City directories from 1800 to 1805 and again from 1809 to 1812. He was also active in Connecticut, where it is likely that he painted the four other works that bear his signature—all portraits. |
Provenance |
Probably painted for John Cannon, Jr. (1752-1798), Norwalk, Connecticut Descended through family to Charles O.C. Betts until at least 1922 David David Galleries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, proprietor Samuel David Sold to Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, New York, 1967 Sold to H. Richard Dietrich, Jr. (1938-2007), Chester Springs, Pennsylvania (Horace Gordon, Elinor Gordon Oriental Lowestoft, Villanova, Pennsylvania, agent), 1968 Bequest to The Dietrich American Foundation, 2007 |
Object Name |
Painting |
Object ID |
6.3.HRD.1464 |
Search Terms |
paintings |