N.C. Brainard Acquisition Fund and Seymour Museum Fund Income, 1973.25.20, Connecticut Museum o…

Images(2)

Frog Pond

PainterPainted by Louis Grosvernor Frink American, 1869 - 1956

DateNovember 1934

MediumDrawing; pencil, watercolor, and gouache on brown paper on cardboard

DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (image height x width): 15 3/4 x 20in. (40 x 50.8cm)
Sheet (height x width): 15 3/4 x 20in. (40 x 50.8cm)
Mount (height x width): 15 3/4 x 20in. (40 x 50.8cm)

ClassificationsGraphics

Credit LineN.C. Brainard Acquisition Fund and Seymour Museum Fund Income

DescriptionDrawing of a pond surrounded by slender deciduous trees in a yellow landscape. In the forground is a stone wall and a white fence.

Object number1973.25.20

InscribedOn verso, upper right, in pen, "Frog Pond / by Lou Frink / nov 1934"

Center, in pencil, "1947.26.20 / Frink / #20"

Lower left, in pencil, accession number

[The notes written in pen on verso are in Lou’s handwriting; the pencil notes are not.]NotesLou Frink made a couple of drawings of the "frog pond," which is a pond in Windham regionally famous for its iconic story known as the "Battle of the Frogs." In June or July of 1754, during a period of severe drought and heightened fear due to the recently erupted French and Indian War, the residents of Windham were startled awake by a deafening, mysterious sounds echoing at night from a nearby mill pond. Many believed the sounds were either an attack by Native groups or the French.
A militia was assembled, and some residents fired muskets into the darkness. At dawn, the truth emerged: hundreds to thousands of frogs had fought and killed one another likely out of desperation for the last remaining water in the drying pond, producing the terrifying sounds.
The incident became a regional story throughout the colonies, but Windham embraced the legend. The town later adopted the frog as a civic symbol, placing it on the town seal and using it in local art and culture.

Source:
Larned, Ellen Douglas. History of Windham County, Connecticut: 1600-1760. United States: author, 1874.

Subject Terms