A. Dickson Entering Bristol in 1819

Date1851

Artist Alexander Boudrou fl. 1851 - 1871

OriginAmerica, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia County

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions21 1/8" x 26 3/16" (53.7 cm. x 66.5 cm.) unframed; 24 1/4" x 30" framed.

Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Object number1939.101.2

DescriptionA man in a black coat, black top hat, and rowel spurs rides a wild-eyed white horse through a crossroads, slightly to the right of center in the picture. Behind and to the left of him is a large inn, 3 1/2-stories high, painted white with a gray roof, and a ground-floor porch running the width of the building in front. Five small figures appear on the porch of the inn, and just in front of the same building are a pump and watering trough. A free-standing sign at the far left identifies the building (see "Signature/Marks"). A dirt road runs diagonally back to the right and four buildings appear alongside it on the far edge. In the lower right foreground, a white building is set on a fenced plot with trees. In the lower left foreground, a long plot shows part of a fenced in green area with trees adjacent to a curious assemblage of buildings (or perhaps logs?) and tools. Two axes, a chain, a horseshoe, and several wheels or wheeled vehicles are discernible, but other objects laid on the ground are unidentified. The scale of the two foreground plots is a great deal smaller than that of the rider, nor does it agree with the inn beyond.Label TextNothing is know about A. Dickson, who is named in the painting's title, but judging by his figure's dominance of the compostion, he may well have commissioned this scene from Boudrou. By 1820 a Bristol Township Inn existed at the intersection of Second Street Pike and Grubtown Lane in McCartersville, or Unionville, a community now incorporated within the Philadelphia city limits. An 1849 map identified "J. R. Cook's Smith Shop" as the establishment at lower left in the painting, and Boudrou obligingly depicted an assortment of ironware on the ground there.Mark(s)The reverse of the canvas is inscribed "Alaxandr Boudro [illegible]/Painter/1851/No.7." The last letter(s) in "Boudro. . ." are illegible because of a paint smear. Lettered on the inn sign at the far left in the painting is "BRISTOL/TOWNSHIP/INN."ProvenanceThe painting was owned by a member of the Dickson family in Pennsylvania; Edith Gregor Halpert, Downtown Gallery, New York, N. Y.; Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.; Given to C. W. by Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.