Lot Essay
The view depicted here shows the Poultney River at its border with New York State. The building portrayed in the middleground left is probably the Troy Conference Academy, built in 1837 as a Christian educational institution and continued as a private school in that mode between 1855-1863 by the Reverend Joshua Poor; it is now Green Mountain College. The village of East Poultney, Vermont is in the background. Diminutively yet distinctly shown at the middleground right is a steam locomotive making its way toward the village; the Rutland Railroad, which served Poultney, Vermont, was not completed until 1852. As such, this painting is one of relatively few early Vermont landscapes to include the railroad.
While relatively little is known of the artist Lyman F. Brown, he is known to have taught painting, drawing and music at the Troy Conference Academy in 1859 and 1861. Brown left the Academy and ultimately joined the 10th Regiment, Company K of Vermont Volunteers toward the close of the Civil War. The "J. Poor & Co." whose name appears stamped on the reverse of the stretcher of this painting is presumably a relative, if not the same, as the individual running Troy Conference Academy during those years.
While relatively little is known of the artist Lyman F. Brown, he is known to have taught painting, drawing and music at the Troy Conference Academy in 1859 and 1861. Brown left the Academy and ultimately joined the 10th Regiment, Company K of Vermont Volunteers toward the close of the Civil War. The "J. Poor & Co." whose name appears stamped on the reverse of the stretcher of this painting is presumably a relative, if not the same, as the individual running Troy Conference Academy during those years.