''Pilgrims Going To Church'' (1867), originally ''The Early Puritans of New England Going to Church'', is a painting by

Anglo-American Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...

painter

George Henry Boughton George Henry Boughton (4 December 1833 – 19 January 1905) was an Anglo-American landscape and genre painter, illustrator and writer. Life and work Boughton was born in Norwich in Norfolk, England, the son of farmer William Boughton. The fam ...

(1833–1905).

Description

The winter scene depicts the 17th-century Puritan settlers of

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

, later identified specifically as the

Pilgrim Fathers The Pilgrims, also known as the Pilgrim Fathers, were the English settlers who came to North America on the ''Mayflower'' and established the Plymouth Colony in what is today Plymouth, Massachusetts, named after the final departure port of Plymo ...

, as a small armed group of somberly clad, God-fearing souls making their way from right to left through a snowy, recently cleared wood to a house of worship (a small building visible in the left background). A minister and his wife lead about a half dozen women and children towards the church and are themselves led and flanked by grim looking men with muskets. The influence of the peasant procession paintings of French artist

Jules Bastien-Lepage Jules Bastien-Lepage (1 November 1848 – 10 December 1884) was a French painter closely associated with the beginning of naturalism, an artistic style that emerged from the later phase of the Realist movement. His most famous work is his lan ...

(1848–1884) is evident. The outer molding of the present frame is thought to be of American manufacture, while the inner liner is English, and incorporates a rosette motif found on the frames of paintings by some the

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

artists.

History

Boughton was sometimes known as the "Painter of New England Puritanism". As with some of his other works, ''Pilgrims'' took inspiration from a literary source:

William Henry Bartlett William Henry Bartlett (March 26, 1809 – September 13, 1854) was a British artist, best known for his numerous drawings rendered into steel engravings. Biography Bartlett was born in Kentish Town, London in 1809. He was apprenticed to John Bri ...

’s 1853 history, ''The Pilgrim Fathers''. It was exhibited at the London Royal Academy in 1867, receiving a warm reception, and at the

Centennial Exposition The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

in 1876. It was purchased in 1868 by Robert L. Stuart. The painting was a favorite of a young

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

when in London in 1873.

References

*Vedder, Lee A. (2005), "Nineteenth-century American Paintings", ''

Antiques An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

'', 167: 146-155. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pilgrims Going to Church 1867 paintings American paintings