For 87 years, a portrait of Justin Smith Morrill, the U.S. senator who helped found the Republican Party and in 1862 wrote the Land-Grant College Act, has hung over the fireplace in the Morrill Memorial and Harris Library in Strafford.
Painted by the Italian artist Constantino Brumidi, who was also commissioned to paint some of the most significant murals in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., the Morrill portrait had suffered the wear and tear of time, and damage from accumulated dirt and grime from the fireplace.
There were small but telling abrasions to the canvas and the background was so discolored that it looked as though Brumidi had intended to paint storm clouds gathering behind Morrill, who grew up in Strafford and was first elected to Congress as a representative in 1854.
Morrill had befriended Brumidi while traveling in the painter’s native Italy, said Rebecca Seibel, the Morrill Memorial and Harris librarian. Brumidi immigrated to the U.S. in 1852.
A recent restoration has brought the painting back to life. The portrait, made in 1858 when Morrill was 48, was rehung this week in its familiar spot over the now-nonworking fireplace.
The portrait, as well as other paintings, including landscapes and portraits of Thoreau and Dickens, was donated by Louise Swan, Morrill’s sister-in-law. In a 1916 will, Swan left $15,000 to three trustees in Strafford for the acquisition and building of a library. The building was erected in 1929.
The impetus for the restoration came last summer when Barbara Wolanin, curator at the U.S. Capitol and author of Constantino Brumidi: Artist of the Capitol, visited the library. Looking at the portrait, Wolanin told library staff that it needed a serious cleaning.
The restoration was done by Barry Bauman, a former associate conservator for painting at the Art Institute of Chicago, and a fellow of the American Institute for Conservation.
Bauman attended Beloit College in Wisconsin, as did Rachel Kurland, a costume and wedding gown designer who lives in Strafford and is on the board of the library. After reading an article about Bauman in the Beloit alumni magazine, Kurland contacted him to see whether he would be interested in working on the Brumidi portrait of Morrill.
Bauman, who lives in River Forest, Ill., west of Chicago, now does only pro bono work for museums and nonprofit organizations across the country. He has restored paintings by John Singer Sargent, George Caleb Bingham, Gustave Courbet, Camille Corot, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Rosa Bonheur and Lucas Cranach the Elder, among others, for institutions across the country. In his pro bono business, he’s restored some 1,500 paintings for about 300 institutions in the U.S.
Bauman knew who Morrill was because some of the institutions with which he’s worked were founded as a result of the Land-Grant College Act. Bauman was also familiar with Brumidi’s massive murals in the U.S. Capitol, which include the Apotheosis of George Washington in the rotunda, painted in 1865, and the Frieze of American History, a portion of which Brumidi painted in the 1870s.
Bauman looked at an image of the Morrill portrait on the library’s website, and began work on it in March, after the library shipped it to him.
“If you didn’t wash your face for 50 years you wouldn’t know what you looked like: it’s the same with painting,” Bauman said in a phone interview.
The canvas was “so veiled with a masking film of dirt and grime and air pollution and discolored varnish and smoke and soot that the portrait had lost all of its vitality,” he said.
As he removed the grime, Bauman said, “I was amazed when I saw the quality of the portrait. The way he looks out at us …. Brumidi has offered so much personality in the portrait.”
It is a portraitist’s ability to burrow into the subject’s skin and to make his character transparent to the viewer that separate the great artists from those just recording a person sitting, Bauman said.
What Brumidi caught in the portrait was Morrill’s “confidence, self-respect and awareness. There’s a lot there to look at,” Bauman said.
Bauman works out of his home and usually restores between five to 10 paintings simultaneously. He uses a binocular microscope, Q-tips and various solvents appropriate for a particular canvas to do the painstaking work. In the case of the Morrill portrait, he also attached a new canvas backing to the old, put it on a new, custom-made stretcher and applied a new, non-yellowing varnish to protect the surface.
“It’s like day and night,” said Kurland, marveling at the difference between before and after.
The library’s hours are: Monday 1-8 p.m.; Wednesday, 2 to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon. Phone: 802-765-4037. Email: strafford@vals.state.vt.us.
The 225 Gallery in the Tip Top Building in White River Junction holds an opening reception from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday for an exhibition of works by Enrico Riley, an artist and associate professor in the Dartmouth College of Studio Art, and Patrick Dunfey, a painter and photographer who is also the head of exhibitions design and planning at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth. Both Riley and Dunfey will talk about their work at the reception.
Arabella, Windsor. The gallery exhibits works by local artists and artisans in a variety of media including jewelry, oils, acrylics, photography, watercolors, pastels and textiles.
BigTown Gallery, Rochester, Vt. “Earthly,” an exhibition of drawings by Marcy Hermansader, is on view through Saturday.
Chandler Gallery, Randolph. “Boundaries,” a show featuring the works of numerous New England artists, continues through Sept. 5.
Cider Hill Art Gallery and Gardens, Windsor. Gary Milek exhibits his work in the gallery.
Converse Free Library, Lyme. Japanese nerikomi ceramics by John Quimby are on view until Sept. 30.
Aidron Duckworth Museum, Meriden. “Color – A Theory in Action,” a show of works by Aidron Duckworth, and an exhibition of prints and collages by Philadelphia artist Steven Ford run through July 24. The sculpture of Terry Lund, on the grounds, is on view through Oct. 30.
Great Hall, Springfield, Vt. An exhibition of photographs documenting life in Springfield, taken by students participating in the Springfield Photovoice initiative, continues through July.
Hall Art Foundation, Reading, Vt. “Landscapes After Ruskin: Redefining the Sublime,” curated by photographer Joel Sternfeld, continues through Nov. 27.
Hopkins Center, Hanover. Dartmouth College’s Department of Studio Art presents the POD Award exhibition in the Jaffe-Friede and Strauss Galleries in the Hopkins Center through Aug. 21.
Howe Library, Hanover. “Paths, Streams and Days of Small Things,” a show of more than 25 pastels and water colors by Lynda Knisley, runs through July 27.
Norwich Historical Society. A show of plein air paintings by local artists continues through July 30. Hours are Wednesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon.
Norwich Public Library, “Quotography: Photos by EM Reynolds” is on display until Aug. 30.
Kilton Public Library, West Lebanon. An exhibition of landscapes and cityscapes by Lyme painter and illustrator Meg McLean is on view through Sept. 30.
Library Arts Center, Newport. “The Landscape We Call Home” runs through Aug. 26.
Long River Gallery and Gifts, Lyme. “SKIN! (exposed)” includes works by Stephanie Reiniger, Betsy Derrik, Liliana Paradiso, Nils Johnson, Meredith Muse and Doug Masury. Through Sept. 6.
Roth Center for Jewish Life, Hanover. “White on Black: Images of Antigua,” an exhibition of photographs by Mort Wise, is on view through Sept. 13.
Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish. Standing Lincoln is now on view. “Arrangements,” an exhibit of work by Kirsten Hassenfeld, a 2014 Saint-Gaudens Fellow, is on view in the picture gallery through Monday.
Scavenger Gallery, White River Junction. Artists Ben Peberdy and David Powell bring their version of Hitchcock’s The Birds to the gallery.
SculptureFest, Woodstock. The annual celebration of three-dimensional art, is on view at the farm of Charlet and Peter Davenport. This year’s featured sculptors are Judith Wrend and Joseph Chirchirillo. The show remains open for public browsing through foliage season. A second piece of the show, curated by Edythe Wright and Jay Mead, opens in September at the nearby King Farm. For more information, go to sculpturefest.org.
Tunbridge Library. “Quartets,” a show by artists Janet Cathey and Kristen Johnson, is on display until Sept. 3.
Two Rivers Printmaking Studios, White River Junction. “Used to Be,” prints and fabrics by Emily Parrish, is up through July.
Zollikofer Gallery, White River Junction. “To Be Determined 2.0,” an exhibition of David Powell’s collages, altered photographs, digital prints and tapestries, is at the gallery in the Hotel Coolidge through July 27.
Nicola Smith can be reached at nsmith@vnews.com.