Lot 17: WINTHROP CHANDLER (1747-1790)

WINTHROP CHANDLER (1747-1790) PORTRAIT OF REVEREND EBENEZER GAY, SR. oil on canvas 37 in. by 28 in. 37 x 28 inches Painted in Suffield, Connecticut, 1773

American Federation of Arts, Wiltshire Collection, no. 1

Paul S. Sanderson, It Happened in Our Town (Suffield, Connecticut: Suffield Bicentennial Commission), p. 7

Descended in the Gay Family
Tillou Gallery, Litchfield, Connecticut
William E. Wiltshire III, Richmond, Virginia
Sotheby Parke-Bernet Inc., American Folk Paintings and Watercolors, April 30, 1981, Sale 4593M, lot 8

The Reverend Ebenezer Gay, Sr. (1718-1796), a graduate of Harvard in 1737, was ordained in Suffield, Connecticut where he was minister of the Congregational Church until his death. He was a member of a distinguished new England family and his diaries reveal that he moved in th ebest social circle. "J.Adams" and "Col. Washington" (George Washington?) were guests in his home on October 13, 1767 and Feburay 2, 1768, respectively.
The diaries also reveal that "Mr. Chandler" visited the Reverend Gay's home nine times between May and August, 1773. This is most likely a reference to the period during which this portrait was painted.