The centerpiece of the exhibition is Angel Gabriel, the
72-inch-long iron weathervane that made news when it was stolen
in 2003 and recovered in 2005. According to record, it was made
in 1822 by Henry Forster, a Crown Point, N.Y., blacksmith and
spent 181 years atop three successive churches in Crown Point,
across from Shelburne on Lake Champlain.
: Until a few weeks ago, it had been secured in a
police evidence locker in New Haven, Conn., for the better part
of a year. But since May 1, a 6-foot-long Angel Gabriel
weathervane has been back in the public eye, the centerpiece of
"Silhouettes in The Sky: The Art of the Weathervane."
On view through October 31, the Shelburne Museum's summer
exhibition gathers 50 high flyers from a collection assembled
mainly by the late Electra Havemeyer Webb, who founded Shelburne
Museum in 1947. Webb, who died in 1960, bought most of the
examples late in her life from Edith Halpert, Adele Earnest and
other leading dealers of the day.
One of the best stashes in the country, Shelburne's weathervanes
are rarely displayed as a group. Selected highlights were shown
together between 1987 and 1990, when "An American Sampler: Folk
Art From The Shelburne Museum" opened its seven-museum tour at
the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It has been more
than a decade since Shelburne mounted a special exhibition on the
subject, said senior curator Jean Burks, who organized the show.
This Liberty weathervane pattern was made by Henry Leach for
Cushing & Co. (working 1867-72) in Waltham, Mass. The
carved and painted wood figure derives from a 1796 print by
American painter Edward Savage. For many years, this
46-inch-tall figure was thought to be a ship's figurehead.
Courtesy Shelburne Museum.
While many of Shelburne's best weathervanes are well known to
collectors, the Gabriel is largely a new discovery. Called "Old
Gabriel" by townsfolk, it was made in 1822 in Crown Point, N.Y., 37
miles from Shelburne on the western shore of Lake Champlain, by
blacksmith Henry Forster. The iron for the piece was probably mined
nearby. Forster's design is unusual: though the angel is
two-dimensional, its trumpet was modeled in the round and its
wings, which span more than 3 feet, are attached at a 45-degree
angle.
Until the theft of "Old Gabriel" in November 2003, when thieves
replaced the original with a clumsy copy, the weathervane had
flown above White Church and its two predecessors for 181 years.
As reported in Antiques and The Arts Weeklyat the time,
the weathervane was recovered in June 2005 when Mike Garlenski of
Ridgefield, Conn., offered the sculpture to New Haven dealer Fred
Giampietro, who recognized the stolen piece and immediately
notified police. Giampietro had previously offered White Church
Association $100,000 for the work.
Garlenski at the time told Antiques and The Arts
Weeklythat he inadvertently acquired the Gabriel after buying
an eagle weathervane on eBay from a seller who arranged to meet
him in Port Jervis, N.Y. The seller offered Garlenski the Gabriel
on consignment. A year after "Old Gabriel's" recovery, federal
authorities are still investigating the theft, Investigator
Marshall Rocque of the New York State Police Barracks in
Westport, N.Y., said recently. Several other weathervanes were
also reported missing along the New York-Vermont border in late
2003.
"We are extremely fortunate to have this magnificent weathervane
on view," says Burks, who was contacted by Joan Hunsdon, who
offered to loan "Old Gabriel" to the Shelburne Museum. Hunsdon is
Crown Point's historian and an officer of both the White Church
Association and the Penfield Museum, which documents the town's
Nineteenth Century role in the iron industry. The sculpture is
currently a highlight among the several dozen Eighteenth through
Twentieth Century weathervanes on view.
