An oasis of books, art in Vermont
ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. - A library's jewels are usually found exclusively in the pages of its books. At the ornate hilltop St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, there is also treasure on the walls.
The landmark library and art gallery features 19th-century American and European paintings, including a collection of landscapes in the style of the Hudson River School and re-creations of such works as a Rembrandt self-portrait and Carlo Dolci's 1651 "Madonna and Child."
The handsome red brick building, a National Historic Landmark, was designed by architect John Davis Hatch III and constructed in the Second Empire style. It was a gift in 1871 to the people of the rural town from Horace Fairbanks, a former governor and wealthy philanthropist. (His family invented and manufactured the first platform scale.) The library was named for Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom and art, and the art gallery was added to the main building in 1873.
The library's rich architecture is immediately apparent on entering, with its glorious spiral staircases, spindled banisters, and polished woodwork. Artwork is hung generously throughout the library's two floors from the quiet comfort of the Victorian reading rooms to the whimsy of the children's room where Dr. Seuss sits on the shelves and murals like "The Song of Hiawatha," inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem, adorn the walls.
Outside the art gallery's entrance, a large Matthew Wilson oil portrait of Fairbanks framed in gold leaf towers looms above a fireplace. Paintings donated by the Fairbanks family helped the collection grow from about 30 to more than 100 works.
Learning about the art takes many forms. A knowledgeable docent can talk about the large journals Fairbanks collected from around the world and that are now behind glass. Visitors can also borrow a guidebook called "Handbook of the Art Collection," which leads them through the alcoves. There are also a couple of tapes detailing the library and its collection, one narrated by meteorologist Mark Breen, a familiar voice on Vermont Public Radio with "Eye on the Sky," which is produced at the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium in town.
One of the more popular works is John George Brown's "Hiding in the Old Oak." The painting offers a glimpse of a country childhood, as three girls play a game of hide and seek, tucked away in the tree's cavity. In another favorite, Seymour Joseph Guy's 1866 "Red Riding Hood," she points the wicked wolf to grandmother's house.
Montpelier-born Thomas Waterman Wood captures a fading element of rural life in his 1874 painting "The Argument." In it, three dyed-in-the-wool Vermonters sit by the wood stove in a general store discussing a story in the local newspaper.
While there are many impressive works here, the centerpiece has to be Albert Bierstadt's majestic "The Domes of the Yosemite." The work first hung in the Connecticut home of financier Legrand Lockwood who paid $25,000 for it in 1867. The Western landscape features a valley with a misty waterfall, large cliffs, and scattered trees.
Wandering through the buildings, it's striking that art is everywhere. An elevator vestibule in the library houses works including a 32-inch plaster bust of Lincoln. When you take the stairs, you do so under the watchful eyes of a reproduction of Raphael's circa 1513 "Sistine Madonna."
At the Athenaeum, Athena's inspiration is also everywhere.
Marty Basch is a New Hampshire-based writer who can be reached at marty@martybasch.com.
