The Pulaski Club

Dateca. 1930

Artist John T. Zaharov (? - 1961)

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsUnframed: 22 1/2 x 29 3/4in. (57.2 x 75.6cm) and Framed: 27 x 34 1/4 x 2in. (68.6 x 87 x 5.1cm)

Credit LineGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

Object number1939.101.3

DescriptionAn interior scene showing eight men gathered around a pot-bellied stove, most seated, one of them standing and lifting the lid of the stove. The men repose in various chairs, some are smoking. A window at the left in the rear wall admits light, as does a fanlight over a door at the right in the same wall. An overflowing wastebasket, drying corn hanging from the patched ceiling, and unfinished walls all suggest that this is a highly informal. A sign on the rear wall overlaps the window.Label TextThe Pulaski club was likely founded in the 1770s as a social organiziation for local men. Early meetings were said to be held in the Raleigh Tavern. The name Pulaski was attached to the group after the death of Polish Count Casimir Pulaski who visited Williamsburg on April 16, 1779, on his way south to join General Benjamin Lincoln. Nothing is known about the count's reception in town, but his name was purportedly chosen upon the recommendation of George Washington with whom he served. Legend suggests that Washington mentioned a "club" in Williamsburg in a letter and that he proposed the group name themselves after Pulaksi.

The first written account of the organization dates to 1877. After suspending meeting during the Civil War, the group reappeared in the guise of a college club between 1870 and 1875 when Henry Dennison "Den" Cole was a student. Most of the members at this time were fellow William and Mary students who met at his family-operated business, the Cole shop, adjacent to the present-day Taliaferro-Cole House on Duke of Gloucester Street. Gradually the group extended to town businessman and local citizens. Today, wooden benches in front of the shop serve as the group's fair-weather meeting location.

This painting was rendered by John Zaharov, an architect who worked for the Colonial Williamsburg Restoration. The image portrays various members of the Club seated around a wood burning stove in the Taliaferro-Cole Shop. Individuals painted in scene are as follows from left to right: figure with back to viewer is Admiral Ball; Commodore Cole; Judge Wynne Roberts; Professor Charles (President); Judge Moore; Judge Armistead; Professor Jeff Stubbs; and Bob Kyger.Inscription(s)In paint in block letters at lower right is "John Zaharov".
A sign hanging on the back wall of the scene is lettered "PULASKI CLUB/FOUNDED 1779".
A small card that was once tacked to the auxiliary support was removed by conservator Bruce Etchison in 1977 and is now in Etchison's treatment report in the object file. It is a legend, or key, presumably made by the artist; numbers associated with a simplified sketch of the painting correlate to numbered names below that identify the eight figures in the painting as follows [with bracketed notes in this transcription added by the present cataloguer]:
"1 - Professor Charles (Presid.)[man closest to the window]/2 Judge Wynne Roberts [middle of the three men at far left]/3 'Commodore' Cole [man farthest left]/4 'Admiral' Ball [man with back to viewer]/5 Bob Kyger [man closest to viewer, far right]/6 Professor Jeff Stubbs [white-haired man with glasses seated next to Kyger]/7 Judge Armistead [man in front of fan-lit door]/8 Judge Moore [man tending stove]".ProvenanceGift of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller