The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Historical Society receives donation
LITCHFIELD >> The Litchfield Historical Society recently accepted a donation of a collection of portrait miniatures by famed artist Anson Dickinson, given in honor of former Bantam resident Mona Leithiser Dearborn.
The donation includes 11 miniatures. Nine are attributed to Anson Dickinson, one to Abraham Parsell, and one to an unknown artist, possibly Pierre Henri. The donor wishes to remain anonymous. At the same time, the historical society has accepted the research papers of Mona Leithiser Dearborn, which include extensive notes regarding Anson Dickinson and his work.
Dickinson, considered one of the finest producers of American portrait miniatures, was born the Litchfield village of Milton in 1779. After apprenticing with Litchfield silversmith Isaac Thompson, Dickinson began work as a miniature painter in 1803.
Throughout his career as an itinerant artist, Dickinson painted miniatures in Connecticut, New York, Boston, and Montreal, and frequently returned to Litchfield to complete local commissions and visit his family. Beginning in 1811, at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Dickinson’s work was regularly exhibited at institutions across the Northeast. Dickinson died in Milton in 1852.
Today, the Litchfield Historical Society collection contains over 40 miniatures attributed to Dickinson, as well as one attributed to his brother, Daniel, a fellow miniature painter and oil portraitist.
Dearborn was born Mona Liethiser in 1922, raised in Bantam and attended Litchfield High School. She went on to the University of Connecticut, Syracuse University and the University of Colorado for graduate school. She spent two years in the WAVES and married Henry Dearborn of Seattle in 1945. She worked at the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts for about two years, before leaving to raise her three daughters. She then returned to work and spent 20 years as an art historian at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. She became interested in Anson Dickinson when in high school; he was a resident of Milton and very little had been written about him.
After resolving to study his work, Liethiser Dearborn began to collect records and photographs related to Dickinson, not realizing how many miniatures he had painted in his 50 year career. She left her research papers to the historical society, where they will be made available to researchers.
A selection of the miniatures will be on display at the Litchfield History Museum after Aug. 8.
The Litchfield Historical Society is located at 7 South St., Litchfield. In an effort to better serve the community, the Litchfield History Museum and the Tapping Reeve House & Law School now offer free admission for all. Free admission is underwritten with generous support from Ericson Insurance Advisors. To learn more visit www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org.