Weathervane: Gabriel

Date1843 possibly

OriginAmerica, Vermont, Whiting area (probably)

MediumSheet and wrought iron

DimensionsOverall: 21 x 62 x 2 3/8in. (53.3 x 157.5 x 6cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1957.800.4,1

DescriptionA weathervane consisting of two identical pieces of sheet iron cut in the shape of a trumpeting angel, the two pieces held together with forged rivets. The horn has a section of lead sandwiched between the sheets of iron. Two forged iron ring pivots are riveted to the proper right side of the angel. The lower portion of the lower foot is missing. (The foot appears intact in a 1930 photo and is missing in a 1957 one.)

Originally, the angel turned on a 15-foot tall wrought iron spindle that terminated in a triple-pronged lightening arrester. The spindle was cut prior to AARFAM acquisition. Its lower portion is missing. The upper portion, terminating in the lightening arrester, measures 36 7/8-inches in length and is preserved as acc. no. 1957.800.4,2.

Artist unidentified.
Label TextAmong other duties, the Biblical archangel Gabriel guarded places of worship and delivered annunciations. Fittingly, then, a number of early churches were adorned with weather vanes in the shape of this heavenly being. The Museum's version originally topped the Baptist Church in Whiting, Vermont, which was completed in 1843. The vane's maker, presumably a smith in the Whiting area, seems to have been guided by similarly shaped period figures representing the allegorical concepts of Fame and Victory.
The vane consists of two identical sheet iron silhouettes attached to one another with forged rivets. A piece of lead sandwiched between the two sheets forming the horn provides rigidity and support to this fragile element. Two forged iron ring pivots riveted to the body originally supported the vane on a fifteen-foot-tall wrought-iron spindle that terminated in a triple-pronged lightening arrester.
ProvenanceThe vane was removed from the Whiting Baptist Church, Whiting, Vermont, sometime after the church was closed in 1929. Ownership during 1929-1957 is undocumented. By 1957 (when he advertised it), John Kenneth Bayard, Norwalk, CT; purchased from Byard in August 1957 by Edith Gregor Halpert, Downtown Gallery, New York, NY.

Exhibition(s)