Museum accessions.(Winterthur Museum)(Brief Article)

In this issue we have presented a group of articles that give some idea of just how far the Winterthur Museum has furthered scholarship in the field of American decorative arts and material culture since it opened in 1951. Part of that process has resulted from judicious acquisitions and generous gifts made over the years; what the future holds might be gleaned from the objects illustrated here, a sampling of the acquisitions made to celebrate Winterthur's golden anniversary.

Ralph Earl's portrait of Jerusha Benedict was a significant bequest that strengthens the museum's growing collection of New England paintings. This three-quarter-length portrait represents one of Earl's important Connecticut commissions and shows off his skills at color harmonies and rendering textures, particularly of textiles. Painted in 1790, the portrait descended in the sitter's family until the 1960s and has rarely been exhibited. Jerusha was the daughter of Zadock Benedict, who started the hat industry in Danbury Connecticut, and in 1792 she married Isaac Ives, a graduate of Yale College, a lawyer, and a deacon of the First Congregational Church in Danbury. The portrait is believed to have been done in New Milford, Connecticut, where Jerusha often visited cousins, and where Earl is known to have worked. In addition to the fact that portraits by Earl of two of Jerusha's New Milford cousins are dated to the same year; the spire of the church in the background landscape has the distinctive corner pinnacle s that ornamented that town's original church steeple.

The arts of the Pennsylvania Germans were among Henry Francis du Pont's first loves. The miniature chest over drawers shown here is a major addition to Winterthur's notable collection of line-and-berry in laid furniture from Chester County. Initialed and dated "HD/ 1747," the chest is believed to have descended through the family of the original owner; although investigation ...