Lizzie Painting

Tina-Kate · Post by **Tina-Kate** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 11:14 am

Check out the Lizzie painting on Shelley's website:

http://sanctaflora.wordpress.com/

Apparently it's showing at the B&B for a limited time.

I love it!
What's everyone's opinion?

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 11:22 am

I like it very much. Tho I don't think it looks like Lizzie in the face, the main characteristics are there. Her blue eyes, the hair color is probably the right one. The wide mouth. And she wasn't made to be fat! I love her blouse. And her hands! It looks like her hands have finally been captured! I think she would have had her nails done nicely. They are feminine, yet large and suggest strength.

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 7:09 pm

Forgot to mench: I loved the axe and pear suncatchers! I plan to order them. Never saw an axe suncatcher before.

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Tue Oct 09, 2007 9:46 pm

Thats so cool! It reminds me of those early 1800s Primitive or Naive paintings. Thanks, Tina-Kate and Shelley. Heres a website that has modern paintings that have the feel of what I'm talking about:

http://store.encore-editions.com/Gifts/ ... llips.html

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:59 am

The artist, a local gal, has a unique slant on portraiture. I see a Picasso and a Greek Icon influence. I have seen some of her other work which is even more iconic. The hands here are overlarge, and the eyes seem close together. But it has provoked some stimulating conversation. LeeAnn is thinking to have an exhibition this winter in the barn gallery space which may be the first of many shows/ exhibits/lectures during the winter months- a great idea.

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:10 pm

Shelley's blog also has an interesting query regarding the type of pears that were in the Borden yard. I have always assumed Bartlett but that is not based on any knowledge. Maybe because Hilliard's middle name was Bartlett.

The only mention I could find in the authors was Pearson's mention of Bartlett pear trees being in Fall River but not necessarily in the Borden yard. From page 12 of The Trial Of Lizzie Borden:

"August came in, and the streets of Fall River were parched. A lumbering water cart, or householders, with the garden hose, kept down part of the dust. Second Street rumbled with the sound of horses' hooves, and rattled as carts went by. In some quarters of the town there was the ever-present hum of the mills or, if these were quiet, the whirr of cicadas in the horse-chestnut trees. The hollyhocks were nearly gone, and mid-summer flowers were blooming in the gardens: phlox and petunias. The althea bushes began to put out their mauve blossoms. Behind the houses early Bartlett pears ripened and at night dropped to the ground with a thud."

Shelley mentions the possibility of them being Seckels a name new to me. By the photo she shows I know I have had them but never knew their name.

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:33 pm

A pear quest! I have been bugging the U of Rhode Island agriculture school for years on this one. All I can say if Lizzie B munched 3-4 Bartletts up in that hayloft, then she had SOME appetite. Especially with the noonday meal coming in 45 minutes -all this from the girl who "did not want much" for lunch, "no meat" and still was queasy. Of course maybe the thought of that mutton showing up again drove her to it!

Those Bartletts are some of the largest pears and very fleshy. Now I am approaching the situation from what species would have been ripe in Massachusetts to the point of being on the ground August 4th. Seckels are still my #1 choice for the pear du jour.

Harry · Post by **Harry** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 1:26 pm

Was the Univ. of RI able to help or shed any light on the possible type?

Did a little googling and it said the Seckel was a very sweet pear, a dessert pear, and a favorite of canners.

They were also described as quite juicy. That Lizzie's hands were described as very clean always bothered me, no matter what type pear, as certainly she would have picked up some juices on her hands.

I agree, the best approach would be to find the type of pears ripening in early August or even late July. They questioned Bridget closely on the pears in the Preliminary hearing (page 58):

Q. Do you remember any other kind of fruit they had that week or about that time?
A. No Sir.
Q. Did they have any pears?
A. No Sir.
Q. What?
A. There were pears there, but not on the table.
Q. The pears were beginning to get ripe, and were dropping off the trees in the back yard?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. You had tried them?
A. No Sir.
Q. How did you know they were getting ripe?
A. Mr. Borden brought some in in a basket.
Q. How long before this?
A. That very morning.
Q. The morning of the tragedy?
A. Thursday morning.
Q. Had he brought in any before?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. They had been having pears there, had they, before?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. How many days before that?
A. I could not tell you. He brought them in and left them on the kitchen table.
Q. What was done with them then?
A. Nothing. Sometimes he came out when they were rotten, and threw them under the barn.
Q. Who would throw them under the barn?
A. Mr. Borden.
Q. Whether or not those pears that he brought in before Thursday, were any of them taken into the dining room?
A. No Sir, I did not see them.
Q. Did he bring them in and let them rot, and then throw them away?
A. Yes Sir.
Q. Did not he eat any of them?
A. I dont know. They were left on the kitchen table.
Q. In the basket?
A. He brought them in a day or two before, and put them on the kitchen table, and took those out that were rotten and threw them under the barn.
Q. How were they on the kitchen table?
A. Laid right out, emptied out.
Q. What table?
A. A table right near the closet."

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 1:41 pm

Well, depending on weather and rain conditions, seckels ripen from August -September. Over the years, I have scoured the neighborhood hoping to find some pear trees near #92 but of course everything has been cut down, cemented over and no trace of any old fruit trees.

I think the table right near the closet must refer to the table which was in front of the woodstove in the kitchen. This is a "fruity" business, Harry- but we shall prevail!

Bob Gutowski · Post by **Bob Gutowski** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:53 pm

To me it's lacking Lizzie's eternal girlishness, though I like it.

I have that edition of the play, too!

snokkums · Post by **snokkums** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:52 am

Loved those pictures. kinda neat seeing them.

augusta · Post by **augusta** » Fri Oct 12, 2007 9:14 pm

There were go again - there's that line where it says Andrew threw rotted pears "under the barn". Would that have been a garbage pit under there? But it sounded like he waited until the pears rotted, on purpose.