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backboard, is a purple- instead, the watch is suspend-
toned illustrated ticket ed from a chain with the
announcing in various type winding key pointing heav-
fonts and sizes, “From enward—a sign that it will be
Germany to America the wound no more.”
Great Strasburg Clock Fac
Simile of the Original, A A Horologist, Painted
Working Model of One A portrait of an actual
of the World’s Seven watchmaker (Figure 6) was
Wonders, Apostolic Musical purchased in Vermont and is
and Astronomical Clock.” in the collection of Old
Mr. Rundlett is otherwise Sturbridge Village in
unknown, but his rendition Massachusetts. Neither the
of the clock is skillfully sitter nor the artist is known,
executed. but the ocean and hilly coast-
Perhaps Charles Rundlett line viewed through the win-
traveled the 60 miles to dow makes the painting’s
Boston and was inspired assumed inland origin
after viewing the clock, as somewhat questionable.
shown in contemporary
Figure 5 For horologists, the crafts- Figure 6
photos, looming about 10’ man’s tools are interesting;
tall in front a backdrop of boldly printed drapery. The real Strasburg they include a magnifying loupe and brass double-end calipers used for
clock, one of the world’s largest, rises nearly 60’ tall in the Cathédrale “truing” balance wheels. The watch proudly displayed by the watch-
Notre-Dame. With its multiple dials and automata, it is now known as maker appears to be a typical English timepiece in a thick multipiece
the “Strasbourg” clock since the city is French again. In the spring of hinged, hallmarked silver case, popular and prevalent in America dur-
2019, I traveled to the Cathedral only to find the clock fully covered by ing the hundred years before the Civil War. Few watches at that time
a painted shroud to conceal major restoration work. were made in America; our “watch

makers” principally were repairers
Time Makes Its Mark and sellers, as has been the case
I travel only two miles from my subsequently as well.
home to appreciate a lovely minia-
ture owned by the Andover For the Children
Center for History & Culture Children are the sole subjects of
(Figure 5). In early 2017, the some paintings. Sold at a 2013
Center mounted a Back in Time Skinner auction, a painting by
exhibit of its horological holdings Erastus Salisbury Field, one of our
where I peered with joy at this best-known folk artists, featured a
mother-and-child painting in a boy (Figure 7) living around 1850.
gilt frame. The artist was town Typically, just one of his ears is
native Clarissa Peters Russell visible, but the large watch and its
(1809–54), an important American thick ribbon are front and center.
folk-art miniaturist also known as A little boy in 1830s attire was
Mrs. Moses B. Russell whose hus- caught listening to a watch ticking.
band was a painter, too. Her The description from the Minn-
many extant portraits of children eapolis Museum of Art suggests
suggest that these were her Figure 7 Figure 8 that the portrait, attributed to
specialty. In this double portrait, continued on page 23
the gold watch is out of the
mother’s pocket and clutched by Figure 9
the child. If that grasp weakened,
the mother had hold of the long
black ribbon, less costly than a
gold chain. Because of the
woman’s black dress, and the
familiar symbolism of a watch
representing mortality, there is the
possibility that this work was
painted posthumously.
The 2016–17 exhibit at the
American Folk Art Museum,
Securing the Shadow: Posthumous
Portraiture in America, focused on
this theme. The exhibit included a
private-collection example of a boy
holding a watch and chain, attrib-
uted to Aaron Dean Fletcher
(1817–1902). The description,
reproduced on page 113 of the
exhibit catalog, states, “In this
example, surmised to have been
painted posthumously, the child
no longer has time on his hands;
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