Historic Art in Luxurious Boston Hotels by Fran Folsom Boston is home to several world class art museums; the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art, all filled with wonderful works of art. But, these museums are not the only harbingers of art, several of the city’s hotels boast historic artworks. The lobby of the Marriott Long Wharf Hotel, overlooking Boston harbor, is the perfect setting for Rufus Porter’s mural “A View of Boston Harbor”. Rufus Porter, born in 1792 in West Boxford Massachusetts, was, in his early years, an itinerant painter wandering the back roads of New England, decorating walls with his Folk Art landscapes. Later in his life Porter turned to inventing, taking out patents for things such as a cam lever vice, a corn sheller, floating docks, and a revolving rifle for which he sold the design to Samuel Colt for $100. Porter also founded the journal Scientific American. The hotel’s mural measures 15 feet wide by 7 feet high, taking up an entire wall of the lobby. Porter painted it in 1824 on the walls of the Prescott Tavern in Jaffrey New Hampshire. When the tavern was demolished the mural was purchased by A. Erland Goyette, who cut the wall it was on and moved everything to his museum in Peterboro New Hampshire. The museum closed in 1960, the contents were auctioned off and the mural languished in obscurity for many years until it was purchased and restored by the Marriott Corporation. Porter’s simple composition and use of strong shadows capture the essence of Boston Harbor at sunset. His color choice; gold, green, brown and splashes of burnt red, is subtle but powerful. Porter tinged the horizon in pink to give depth to the scene, for the piece’s central tree he painted half of the tree’s leaves gold, the other half green, giving the impression of shadow. The Julien Bar at the Langham Hotel, built in 1922 as the Federal Reserve Bank, is home to two fabulous N.C. Wyeth murals. When the building was the bank, the bar was the reception room for the board of directors. Wyeth chose his subjects Abraham Lincoln, Salmon P. Chase, George Washington, Robert Morris, and Alexander Hamilton for two reasons; patriotism and these men represented financing and banking.  Newell Convers Wyeth, patriarch of an artisan family in son Andrew and grandson Jamie, was born in Needham Massachusetts in 1882. Primarily a book illustrator with classic’s such as Kidnapped, Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe and The Yearling to his credit, Wyeth received the commission for the bank murals from his editor at Houghton Mifflin, Roger Scaife, a friend of the building’s architect R. Clipston Sturgess. He completed the murals in less than a year, working with oils on canvas in his studio.
The Lincoln mural portrays a somber Lincoln standing over a seated Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of the Treasury at the outbreak of the Civil War. On a wall behind Lincoln is a map of the United States. Both men have documents in their hands. History notes that Lincoln’s administration was fraught with financial difficulties raising war funds; with Chase’s knowledge of banking he received the financing for the Civil War.  On the opposite wall, the partner to this mural shows George Washington, hero of the Revolutionary War, seated with Robert Morris, a wealthy Philadelphia merchant, founder of the Bank of North America, and chief financier of the war. Standing is Alexander Hamilton whom Washington appointed as our first Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton was the founder of the United States Mint and the Bank of the United States. To give the scene reality Wyeth wrinkles the blue and rose rug under Hamilton’s feet.
In both murals Wyeth expertly captures in the subject’s faces the gravity of the situations they are deciding; Washington, Morris and Hamilton the financing of the Revolutionary War, Lincoln and Chase the resources for the Civil War. What draws your eye immediately on entering the foyer of the Gryphon House Inn is the French scenic wallpaper “El Dorado”, made by Zuber Et Cie Company in Rixheim France. The wallpaper was installed the same year the inn was built, 1895. Zuber Et Cie, founded in 1797, is the only company in the world that still produces woodblock printed wallpaper. The “El Dorado” pattern consists of two sets of twenty-four panels, taking 1,554 woodblocks and 201 colors to complete. Today the company is still producing wallpaper using 18th century techniques and wooden blocks. The paper’s theme is the four continents of the world, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Its background shows lush tropical plants, mountains, flamingoes, swans, peacocks, temples, rivers, waterfalls, fountains, and lakes. When the paper was shipped from France, Zuber sent representatives to assemble and hang it, using muslin as backing for easy removal so that if the owners sold the house they could take their wallpaper with them. The Sheraton Commander Hotel was built in 1927 by John Shine, a historian of George Washington. Shine designed the façade to resemble Washington’s Mount Vernon and, drawing inspiration from the area’s history, the hotel is near the site where Washington took command of the Continental Army, July 3, 1775, Shine named it The Commander. Among the hotel’s Washington memorabilia in the lobby is a unique diorama that depicts the General addressing the troops “Washington Takes Command, July 3, 1775” done by the award winning military artist Henri E. Lion and members of the Military Collectors of New England. What is striking about this diorama is the skilled attention paid to details, from dirt stains on the soldier’s clothing, to tiny cannons, barrels of gun powder, cruppers on the horse’s saddles, and the worn centers of the drummer boys’ drums. Sixty-five figures, each measuring 2 ½ inches, are displayed in their full uniforms, with tiny muskets, back packs and bed rolls, standing in formation facing the General, on horseback, resplendent in his military regalia, with his hat off saluting them. If You Go Marriott Long Wharf Hotel 1-617-227-0800 or 1-888-236-2427
296 State Street www.marriott.com
Boston, MA 02109 Langham Hotel 1-617-451-1900 or 1-800-791-7781
250 Franklin Street www.langhamhotels.com
Boston, MA 02110 Gryphon House Inn 1-617-375-9003 or 1-877-375-9003
9 Bay State Road www.innboston.com
Boston, MA 02215 Sheraton Commander Hotel 1-617-547-4800 or 1-888-627-7121
16 Garden Street www.sheratoncommander.com
Cambridge, MA 02138 Zuber Et Cie Company 1-00-33-3-89-44-13-88 www.zuber.fr
28 rue Zuber BP1
Rixheim Cedex France 68171 | 