RSW's Diary Comments

"Painted in 1937. Made as one of my church series for Mr. F. P. Garvan who died so suddenly before the many pictures he ordered were bought."

Editor's Note:

Many people associate Woodward's brand with that of the New England Church and/or Village. Nothing could be further from the truth. Outside of the Garvin Commission, Woodward never painted another church outside of Mary Lyon's Church in Buckland. Those paintings are more a tribute to the local hero, woman, and educator than they are of the church itself.

The only church painting to be sold to Mr. Garvin and now resides in the collection of Yale University is, Enduring New England. All of the remaining paintings either went unsold or were never finished. Woodward abandoned the project entirely!

As for the idea of the New England Village being a Woodward brand, the fact he only painted five true village paintings ends that notion as self-evident.

A picture of the Bennington Church
steeple found in RSW's personal photographs

This painting remains in the estate of the artist. It sustained damage in storage requiring restoration at the Williamstown Art Conservation Center, Inc., in Williamstown, Mass. at a cost of $764.50 in October, 1992.".

This painting was one of several commisioned for a New England church series by Francis P. Garvan. He past before completion. To read about Mr. Garvin and the church series, Click Here

Though it is not fully understood what role photographs had in helping RSW paint. We do know from entries in his personal diaries that if he would only have time to sketch-out a scene, he then took detailed notes as to the colors, lighting and clouds to refresh his memory in the studio. We have identified a few photographs that appear near exact to pictures found in his personal items. The picture of the Bennington Church (below) is one of these photographs.

A picture of the Bennington Church found in RSW's
personal photographs nearly mirrors the painting's perspective

Other notable photographs matching paintings are Double Victory and In the Summer Sun

The church itself is distinguished in the state of Vermont with great historical significance. We have included to this page these additional images of the church from the 1976 Vermont Life Magazine's feature article regarding the church's restoration below...

Vermont Life Cover and featured portrait of the Church

Bennington Church sanctuary front

Bennington Church sanctuary back

Cemetry of the church where many prominant
Vermonter's reside. (See image- upper left.)

A small card on the church's significance

The Bennington Church painting was also featured in an article about Woodward in the August 1940 Yankee Magazine. We understand that a magazine would feature this beautiful church painting in its article on Woodward. It is a historically famous Vermont church by a prominant Massachusetts artist, however, we need to note that this impression of Woodward painting strictly New England churches and villages is a falsehood. In fact, as far as we know, he only painted churches as part of the Garvin commission and our "Village" gallery, as well as, Church gallery are the two smallest galleries on the website.