Bow Bridge by Moonlight
ca. 1901
25 in. x 10 1/2 in.
Henry Ward Ranger,
American,
(January 29, 1858–November 7, 1916)
Medium and Support:
oil on wood panel
Credit Line:
Florence Griswold Museum; Gift of the Artist
Accession Number:
1941.6.b
Door Panel, First Floor; Florence Griswold Museum
This is the first panel painted by an artist for the Florence Griswold House. Ranger likely sketched or painted the Bow Bridge in moonlight on his first trip to Old Lyme in 1899, because by mid-January 1900 he exhibited in New York City a painting called "Bow Bridge by Moonlight." That larger composition was illustrated in an article about the Lyme Summer School of Art, written by Frank Vincent DuMond for "The Lamp" magazine in August 1903.
Ranger completed his door panel of the moonlit Bow Bridge and challenged another artist to complete the painting on the other half of the door. Henry Rankin Poore extended the landscape and added a dog baying at Ranger's moon.