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Portrait 1984-61
Portrait of Dr. William Archer Rutherfoord Goodwin (1869-1939)
Portrait 1984-61

Portrait of Dr. William Archer Rutherfoord Goodwin (1869-1939)

Date1941
Artist
OriginAmerica, New York, New York City
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 30 x 25in. (76.2 x 63.5cm) and Framed: 36 9/16 x 31 1/2 x 1 3/4in.
Credit LineGift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
Object number1984-61
DescriptionPortrait of Reverend Doctor W.A.R. Goodwin in a black shirt and white clerical collar. He looks to the right of the composition, wearing black doctoral regalia with red details and a mauve hood.Label TextWilliam Archer Rutherfoord Goodwin, who became the father of Colonial Williamsburg's restoration, was born in Richmond in 1869. As a child, he lived on a farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. He attended Roanoke College from 1885-1889 with the goal of becoming an attorney. Later, he switched paths, studied at the Virginia Theological Seminary, and was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1894.

In 1903, Reverend Dr. Goodwin began his first term as minister of Williamsburg's Bruton Parish Episcopal Church, during which he helped restore the building. He left for a larger church in Rochester, NY in 1909 but returned to Williamsburg fourteen years later. Goodwin served as head of an endowment campaign at the College of William and Mary, which had been faltering in the years prior. He wished that J.A.C. Chandler, the president of the College, would construct the new buildings with colonial-era facades, but Chandler disagreed.

This inspired Goodwin to preserve Williamsburg's surviving colonial buildings, which had been neglected or modernly renovated since the capital of Virginia moved to Richmond in 1780. He proposed the idea to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., the heir of Standard Oil, in 1924, and the two began work on the project. Goodwin's involvment lasted for the rest of his life, as he worked on the Restoration until 1937, just two years before his death.
Inscription(s)In black paint at upper left is "Ivan G. Olinsky".Mark(s)A brass plaque engraved in block letters and affixed to the front of the lower frame member reads: "DOCTOR WILLIAM ARCHER RUTHERFOORD GOODWIN/WHO CONCEIVED THE RESTORATION/FROM PHOTOGRAPHS AND OTHER PORTRAITS/MADE DURING DR. GOODWIN'S LIFE/PAINTED BY IVAN G. OLINSKY, 1941".