"A View at Appoquinimink"

c. 1823 or earlier

Maker

George Washington Janvier (1784–1865)

Measurements

4 1/2 in x 6 1/4 in

Materials

Watercolor and ink on paper

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation

Accession Number

1975.26

Inscription

A VIEW AT APPOQUINIMINK. STATE of DELAWARE. July the 14th 18[torn]” is written across the bottom; “Mamie Janvier”; “By Geo W. Janvier.” and “Sarah N. Janvier / November 30, 1823" is in pencil and ink on the back.

Condition Notes

A small piece of the lower right corner has torn off.

Provenance

Ex. coll. Miss Margaret Janvier Hort

Comments

This naively rendered drawing, signed on the back by George W. Janvier, shows a farmhouse, outbuildings, and a winding lane in use by an individual driving two horses pulling a laden cart.  The several names on the back suggest that Janvier gave this memory drawing to his niece, Sarah North Janvier, born in 1820, or three years before the date on the front.  All of the Janvier clan remained in close contact despite some, including George, moving away from Odessa in the early 1800s.  George, for example, was called to the ministry and became pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Pittsgrove, New Jersey, in 1810.  He remained there all his life.

Bibliography

Hotchkiss, “Odessa, Delaware,” 870, pl. I.

Kenneth L. Ames, Beyond Necessity: Art in the Folk Tradition (Winterthur, Del: Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1977), cat. 177.

Janice H. Carlson and John Krill, “Pigment Analysis of Early American Water Colors and Fraktur,” Journal of American Institute of Conservators (1979), fig. 2.

Gabrielle M. Lanier and Bernard L. Herman, Everyday Architecture of the Mid-Atlantic: Looking at Buildings and Landscapes (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997), 300.

Zimmerman, A Storied Past, 250-251.