Landscape, The Barns at Norwood, by Lloyd Mifflin, circa 1900. Oil on board with gold-painted floral-and-wheat -decorated flat frame w/ corner blocks.
Reverse is covered with grey-painted linen and is protected by Plexiglas. Central paper sticker reads "RUSSELL'S / CANVAS BOARD / " and "PATENTED MARCH 18, 1879." The number "120" is handwritten in ink in corner of sticker. At upper right is taped a magazine clipping depicting outbuildings and fencing surrounded by grass and trees. Entitled "Farm Scene - Autumn." A few lines follow, noting his (Mifflin?) return from abroad" and the pleasure of enjoying the "sheltered pastoral environment of his choice." A poem follows. Finally, a small paper sticker near top reads "RICHMAN / Bainbridge / Pa. 17502 / (717) 426-1860 / Cat: / P86 / 054-32-1198 / 181-32-7788". Written in marker in large letters at bottom right is "Local Scene / Norwood, Pennsylvania / near / Columbia, Pa. - About 1900 / (1846-1921)." Below this, In pencil, is "Painted by / Lloyd Mifflin / artist. Houston Mifflin, M.D. / Brother."
Provenance
Apparently purchased by Richman from the Minich sisters estate sale.
Flat profile wooden frame with raised corner blocks having gold-painted wheat, daisies and carnations.
Image Size
16 x 22 inches
Object Name
Painting
Material
Paint, Canvas, Wood
Medium
Painting, Oil
Height (in)
21.5
Width (in)
27.5
Dimension Details
Frame dimension is H: 21.5 inches x W: 27.5 inches.
Condition
Good
Condition Date
2016-03-30
Condition Notes
Overall good condition, both painting and frame. On reverse of board are water stains. Glass covers board & secured with primitive wood strips.
Frame has multiple cracks, especially at miter joint at corner blocks.
Object ID
2015.017.1
Notes
The son of John Houston Mifflin, Lloyd followed in his father's footsteps. He also studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, studying under Thomas Moran, and would further his studies with a trip to Europe. He returned to settle in Columbia in 1873. Lloyd has gained greater recognition than his father, primarily due to his landscapes, particularly those of the areas surrounding his home in Columbia and scenes of the Susquhanna River. Lloyd Mifflin died in 1921.
This collection contains the papers of Lloyd Mifflin, including diaries, his poetry, typescripts, galleys with marginal notes, Mifflin family material, and a scrapbook of newspaper clippings. Lloyd Mifflin was a poet and painter from Columbia, Pa. He is best known as a writer of sonnets, publishing over 500.
Admin/Biographical History
Lloyd Mifflin (1846-1921), artist of landscape and portraiture, was also "America's greatest sonneteer." He was born and lived much of his life in Columbia, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where he was free to wander the banks of the Susquehanna River and its tributaries.
His father, J. Houston Mifflin, of English Quaker descent, was Lloyd's first teacher in drawing and sketching. His mother, Elizabeth A. Heise, came from German heritage. She was born in Columbia and died when Lloyd was very young. His father, a kind and patient man, noted that Lloyd was a rather weak child and provided equestrian and water sports to improve his health.
Lloyd was taught in the public schools in Columbia, including the Washington Classical Institute. The Mifflin family supported local education by bequeathing two houses from their estate, the cottage known as "Norwood" and the grand house, "Cloverton," as well as the estate itself. The school district annually planted a flower on his birthday, September 15, and read one of his sonnets, "A Picture of My Mother."
At the age of 14, Lloyd undertook drawing and sketching with his father. He also had Thomas Moran as an instructor in painting and worked with Isaac Williams of Philadelphia for a short time. In 1869, he traveled to Europe where he studied with Henry Herzog at Dusseldorf, Germany. His adventures also took him to Italy, France, England, and Scotland. He returned to Columbia from Europe and continued painting scenes from along the Susquehanna-from Cooperstown, NY to the Chesapeake Bay. As did most other painters of the time, he earned money from portraiture.
In his paintings, he captured the natural with refined color and light, which yielded firm and balanced forms. He preferred to capture the peacefulness of a woodland path or other quiet spots, rather than the noise of an industrial area. Later in his life he liked seasonal paintings, since they gave him a chance to probe deeper into a philosophical spirit.
Mifflin turned to poetry at the age of 51. According to what he wrote in The Hills, his first volume of poetry (1896), he claimed that the fumes of the paint made him sick. In his lifetime he filled twelve books of verse with two hundred poems and more than six hundred sonnets. He wrote more sonnets than William Shakespeare, John Milton, and William Wordworth. John Keats, however, was his favorite. He preferred Keats for his expression regarding the love of beauty, both real and ideal; his forms were always poised and dignified. During this time he also taught himself the art of etching, using this technique to illustrate The Hills.
Mifflin stressed a strong love of beauty in his poetry as he did in his painting. His imagination and beautiful sense of harmony characterize his verse. The main source of his ambition, inspiration and consolation are clearly seen in The Invocation.
He devoted his greatest efforts to the category of the sonnet, considering it the most distinguished and exalted of all forms of English poetry. He enjoyed the structure, the metrical and rhythmic beauty, the plan of metrical rhyme and diction. Mifflin found it much like a musical composition.
Sonnets bipartite in structure usually have a combination of eight lines followed by six. The rhyme schemes and diction include many metaphors and an extensive vocabulary. His one hundred and fifty nature sonnets emphasize the descriptive, not the intuitional. To sample his poetic styles, one should turn to his three hundred and fifty collected sonnets, published in 1905 with a second edition in 1907. A large number came from earlier books.
As a poet, Mifflin was an idealist and respected the ideal of Greek mythological beauty. In the Echoes of the Greek Idylls and Slopes of Helicon, we find no roughness of spirit. There was a conscience of a spiritual presence. His religious sonnets were grounded in the faith of a personal God which related more to his aesthetic feelings than to traditional Christianity. Themes of life and death occur in many sonnets. His poetry inspired faith, hope and deep emotion. These sonnets were more descriptive than philosophical.
Mifflin's personal ambition was to excel; he wanted to write the perfect sonnet. Like the classical Greeks, he hoped his poetry would obtain an immortality. Mifflin thought the world had largely ignored him, even though his poetry received high praise. At his life's end he changed his opinion and credited his readers with more accolades than he had earlier thought. Perhaps he was too hard on himself. Lloyd Mifflin carried the name "Hermit of the hills" who walked the 'world as one entranced' and 'in life's turbid wave', dropped ' the crown-jewel of his melody.'"
E. Hershey Sneath. America's Greatest Sonneteer. The Clover Press (Geo. D. Hall): Columbia, PA.,1928.
[18] p. : mounted ill. (incl. ports.), facsims. ; 13 cm.
Notes
Preface signed: Andrew H. Hershey.
Includes excerpts from "Plea for the Conestoga River," by F.R. Diffenderffer, and poem "To the Conestoga River near Lancaster in June," by Lloyd Mifflin, with sketches of the authors.
Collection consists of personal, legal, and business-related letters and documents concerning the life and affairs of J. Houston Mifflin. Also, similar documents to, from, and about other members of the extended Houston and Mifflin families. Contains typed copies of two letters from J. Houston Mifflin to his son, Lloyd Mifflin, containing an eye-witness account of the June 1863 Confederate advance into Wrightsville. Also, a legal document signed by John Passmore.
