Painting of “General’s Residence” Given to Historical Society

On May 6, at a presentation at the Allis-Bushnell House, Madison landscape artist and Madison Historical Society trustee William Dowling gave the MHS a framed watercolor painting he created of the historic home known locally as “The General’s Residence.” This iconic structure stood for centuries at the corner of East Wharf and Boston Post Roads and was demolished in August 2020.

“The painting is yet another effort to keep history alive, which is the core mission of the Madison Historical Society,” stated MHS president Mark Edmiston. The Society also commissioned a comprehensive report on the building. Noted architectural historian Rachel Carly, from Litchfield, made a full study of the property, its structures, its owners, and its occupants. Her comprehensive report provides a timeline of the home’s owners and its evolution from a timber-framed, post-and-beam dwelling to the large, Greek Revival center-hall structure that met its fate last summer.

The idea for the painting grew out of conversations with several members of the Society’s Board of Trustees who hoped to preserve the story of this historic property. The watercolor depicts the house in its heyday when it was carefully maintained with densely planted gardens.

Dowling did months of research to prepare for the project. He reviewed early photographs, sketches, and building plans, and he made several detailed pencil drawings. He met with some fellow MHS trustees throughout the process to discuss how to best represent the home. Painting on archival paper, Dowling portrayed the building and its setting as it was at an earlier time with simple white doors flanked by black shutters. He also mixed sepia into the watercolors to give the sense of an old photo.

“I wanted the home to be remembered in the best possible light and tried to capture the most poignant details,” stated Dowling.

The painting is expected to hang in the Society’s Madison Center for History and Culture, currently slated to open in the lower level of Lee’s Academy in 2022.

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William Dowling is a landscape artist who splits his time between Bronxville, NY, and Madison, CT. He has painted hundreds of portraits of historic homes in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts for more than two decades. Additional information is available on his website at http://www.wqdowling.com/.