Historical Figures
Captain Eliphalet Lockwood 1 served in the Revolutionary war and was Norwalk’s member of the Connecticut House of Representatives. Colonel Buckingham Lockwood 2 & 3 was one of his sons.
Their formal poses indicate their wealth and stature. They are seated in arm chairs which were expensive, were formally dressed and have classical drapery behind them beyond which you can see a landscape through the window. Notice that Colonel Lockwood wears a skullcap that is meant to hide his balding head.
When Captain Lockwood’s six children decided to divide the family art works among them, they commissioned artists to make copies of this portrait so that each could display one in their homes. This portrait is a copy made from the original 1810 watercolor.
The series of oval portraits below are of a younger Colonel Buckingham Lockwood (whose hair is combed forward even as a young man) and his wife, and the Colonel’s daughter, Mary (Polly) Esther St. John Lockwood 4.
The small rectangular portrait is of Mabel Goodsell Farrington (Lockwood) 5, the wife of Manice deForest Lockwood, Jr. The two small ovals 7 & 8 are of the Lawrences, the grandparents of Manice Lockwood, Jr., who donated many of these works. Before photography was common, these images are similar to the small portraits made so that people could carry the image of a loved one with them. Today we are more likely to keep digital images on our phones.
