Skip to main content
Collection of Morgan B. Brainard. Gift of Mrs. Morgan B. Brainard, 1961.63.31  Photograph by Wi…
Sign for Hinman's Inn
Collection of Morgan B. Brainard. Gift of Mrs. Morgan B. Brainard, 1961.63.31 Photograph by Williamstown Art Conservation Center © 2009 The Connecticut Historical Society.

Sign for Hinman's Inn

Dateabout 1795-1815
MediumPaint on hardwood, probably black cherry board, oak bracket, iron hardware
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (height x width including hardware): 56 1/2 x 41 1/4in. (143.5 x 104.8cm)
Other (height x width of sign only ): 44 1/2 x 28in. (113 x 71.1cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineCollection of Morgan B. Brainard. Gift of Mrs. Morgan B. Brainard
DescriptionImages: On both sides, a radiant sun with facial features, centered on an oval panel. No underlying imagery.
Construction: Single board, cut into smooth-edged oval shape, with flat horizontal rails and turned posts. The board is oriented vertically and is attached with wooden dowels to the centerpoints of the rails and posts. Rails are cut from single boards, with shaped profiles on both edges, joined to posts with offset, double tenons mortised into posts and secured with wooden pins.
Surface: The yellow pigment used for the sun has been identified as a pale litharge-based color, probably Patent or Montpellier's yellow used by house painters until the introduction of Chrome Yellow around 1815; the background was white, now largely worn off. Both sides display centering holes and compass arcs used to lay out the sun's disk, with divider holes marking the spacing of rays. The name banner, with white letters on a black band, resembles work on later signs, as the Sign for Wightman's Inn, about 1815-24.
Object number1961.63.31
On View
On view
Collection of Morgan B. Brainard, Gift of Mrs. Morgan B. Brainard, 1961.63.48  © 2011 The Conne…
Benjamin Williams
1803-1826
Bequest of Henry Halsey, 1876.3.1  © 2009 The Connecticut Historical Society.
Matthew Allyn
1640-1660
Collection of Morgan B. Brainard, Gift of Mrs. Morgan B. Brainard, 1961.63.51  © 2011 The Conne…
Asa Wightman
1815-1824
Gift of Miss Susan M. Loomis, 1896.7.0  Photograph by Williamstown Art Conservation Center  © 2…
Uriah Hayden
1762
Collection of Morgan B. Brainard. Gift of Mrs. Morgan B. Brainard, 1961.63.42  Photograph by Wi…
Joseph Read III
1768
Bed
Eliphalet Chapin
about 1775
Washstand
Isaac Wright & Co.
1831-1838
Museum purchase, through a gift from Geoffrey S. Paul, 2002.100.0  Photograph by David Stansbur…
Benjamin Catlin Gillett
1805