RSW's Diary Comments

"Painted in 1951. Bought summer of 1953 by Miss Mabel Raguse of Shelburne Falls, Mass."

Buckland school teacher Miss Mabel
Raguse in her apartment in Shelburne Falls,
MA beneath the chalk drawing From a May Hill

This painting was purchased from Miss Raguse, a local school teacher, when she closed her apartment to enter a nursing home. It was the last window painting made by the artist before his retirement.

Buckland school teacher Miss Mabel Raguse purchased 2 oil paintings and 3 chalk drawings over her life time. This is quite a feat on a teacher's salary. Safe estimates of what it cost her are anywhere from $25,000 to $27,000 in today's dollars. We do not how much her wages were in that time yet it is safe to say what she spent on paintings by Woodward probably totaled around a quarter of a year's salary.

For more about Miss Mabel Raguse and her love of RSW's work CLICK HERE