“Bad Art – Good History” The Story Behind the Governors’ Portraits at the Connecticut State Library

CONNECTICUT STATE LIBRARY “3rd THURSDAY OF THE MONTH”BROWN BAG LUNCH SERIES

Even if you missed David Corrigan’s 12/16 program on “Bad Art – Good History: The Story Behind the Governors’ Portraits” you can now see a video of his presentation online, courtesy CT-N.

Museum of Connecticut History Curator David Corrigan will present an historical look at the State of Connecticut’s collection of Governors’ Portraits, Thursday, December 16, 2010 from Noon to 12:45 at the Connecticut State Library, 231 Capitol Avenue, Hartford, as part of the 100th Anniversary Celebration of the opening of the Connecticut State Library and Supreme Court Building.  The talk will be presented in Memorial Hall where the portraits now hang.

In 1830 the state acquired its first gubernatorial portrait, that of Gov. Oliver Wolcott, by the Litchfield artist Ralph Earle, which originally hung in the State House on the Green in New Haven.  Twenty-five years later, the state purchased a group of 22 portraits of Connecticut governors from the Hartford artist George Frederick Wright.  Since that time, the state has routinely acquired a portrait of each governor.   The collection now numbers seventy-one, the last portrait acquired being that of Gov. John Rowland.

The collection was housed in the Hartford State House from 1855 until 1878, when it was moved and installed in the State Library in the new State Capitol.  It remained there until 1910 when it was hung in Memorial Hall.  In addition to Earle and Wright, numerous other noted Connecticut artists are represented in the collection, including Charles Noel Flagg, Deane Keller, and Herbert Abrams.

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