RSW's Diary Comments

"Painted in about 1941. The painting of an old N. E. colonial house, high on the hill of the little village of East Dover, beyond Wilmington, Vt. This rare old house used to be a roadside inn or tavern. The ells have long since tumbled down since the canvas was painted. The old house is owned by a Yale professor and his wife who have a summer home on a high hill nearby - I think Prof. Andrews and I think Higley Hill."

Comments on the back of a sepia print:

In studio for sale. House, faded yellow. Old faded yellow house in Dover, Vt., with iridescent old glass window panes, a pearly gray sky. Mr. Frelinghuysen owns the chalk drawing (or pastel) of this house of which he is very fond.

This painting is now privately owned.

The Yale professor mentioned in RSW's diary comments could possibly be Charles McLean Andrews a very famous historian and Pulitzer Prize winning author. Prof. Andrews is reported to have had vacation homes in Jupiter, FL and East Dover, VT. Prof. Andrews retired from Yale in 1942 and died September 9, 1943, two years after this artwork was painted.

For more regarding Charles McLean Andrews and his work, click any of the following links:

Wikipedia: Charles McLean Andrews

Yale University Library: Charles McLean Andrews papers

Answers.com: Charles McLean Andrews

As of November 2013, we know that Mr. F. B. Frelinghuysen had purchased 9 other Woodward paintings and 2 chalks, they are as follows:

Paintings...

• December Window
• Four Maple Trees March
• Geranium and the Mountain
• Hill Road
• Mary Lyon's Church
• Proud Elm
• Snowing Outside
• Up the Winter Valley
• A Winter Day

Chalks...

• In the Summer Sun
• Equinox in August