28 — Antiques and The Arts Weekly — June 8, 2018

At JeffreyTillou Antiques— Connecticut Treasures From The Finn Collection

This rare, possibly made-to-order Chippendale oxbow faux-drawer cabinet has diagonal corner braces, a feature found in Litchfield, Conn. Cherry with pine and poplar sec- ondary woods, height 35½ inches.

By Laura Beach LITCHFIELD, CONN. — Ann Finn and her late husband, Joel, were what every collecting couple should be. Over a period of decades, they assembled a highly focused gathering of furniture “Sunset” by William Sonntag Sr, circa 1860, oil on and landscape paintings associated with Joel and Ann Finn. canvas, hung over a mantel in the Finns’ great room. the wooded, boulder-strewn hills of the western Connecticut landscape they with locally made pieces prompted him called home. Their contrasting but com- to seek case furniture by Eighteenth plementary professional backgrounds Century craftsmen from the then largely — Joel was an engineer turned tech agrarian communities of Woodbury, entrepreneur, Ann is an art historian Southbury and Newtown. His hunt led and museum administrator — resulted him to Waterbury’s Mattatuck Museum, in a patient, intellectually disciplined and to its then curator and his future and rigorous approach to art and wife. As Ann recalled, “He liked to tell antiques, and in a collection difficult to people we were introduced by someone duplicate today. who had been dead for 200 years: the Asked by Ann Finn to represent the maker of the furniture he collected from couple, Litchfield dealer Jeffrey Tillou is Litchfield County.” inviting friends, colleagues and the pub- Much of the furniture on view at Jeffrey lic to join him on Saturday, June 2, from Tillou Antiques is illustrated in two 5 to 8 pm. The evening is intended as a important references, Making Furniture tribute to the Finns and as a celebration in Preindustrial America, The Social of the distinctive arts of western Con- Economy of Newtown and Woodbury, Con- necticut. necticut by Edward S. Cooke Jr, and To Finn’s early work for IBM brought him Please Any Taste, Litchfield County Furni- from upstate New York to suburban ture and Furniture Makers, 1780–1830 by Study for “The Ruins of the Parthenon” by Sanford Robinson Gifford Connecticut. After moving to rural Litch- Cooke; Ann Y. Smith, as Mrs Finn is pro- (1823–1880), 1869, oil on artist’s board, 3½ by 6¼ inches. Gifford’s last great field County in the 1980s, he began fessionally known; and Derin Bray. painting, for which this was preliminary, hangs in the National Gallery of assembling parcels of land, much of it In Tillou’s accompanying catalog, Art in Washington, DC. now conserved by the Weantinoge Heri- Cooke, the Charles F. Montgomery pro- tage Land Trust. His desire to furnish fessor of American decorative arts at unusual forms of carved feet. The Finns for Nineteenth Century artists and the Yale University, writes, “As a result of were drawn to the quirkiness of the subject of one of two paintings by San- his homework, analytical mind and per- work, which sometimes exhibits unusu- ford Gifford (1823–1880) in their collec- severance, he [Joel] acquired some of the al carvings and other embellishments, tion. seminal examples of the region’s case or unconventional construction. Closer to home were Litchfield County furniture and tables, often in excellent Highlights of the current presenta- views by John Casilear (1811–1893) condition in terms of old finishes, and tion include the catalog’s cover piece, a and Edward Nichols (1819–1871). The championed the creativity developed in handsome Chippendale bonnet-top couple’s gathering of paintings by Alex- the hills of northwest Connecticut.” highboy that descended in the Stiles ander Theobald Van Laer (1857–1920), The area’s furniture shows the influ- family of Woodbury. Of it, Tillou whose house stands on West Street in ence of joiners who migrated to Con- remarks, “It doesn’t get any better than Litchfield, is unsurpassed. Joel’s fasci- necticut’s northwest corner from towns this. It is documented, fully intact, has nation with the little-known Van Laer, to the south and east. Characteristic its original brasses, surface and finials, whose sketchbooks he pursued and ulti- features include deeply carved lobed and, proportionally, is a beautiful work mately acquired, ran parallel to his love shells, C-scroll knee returns and, in of art.” Two Woodbury flat-top highboys for Litchfield’s overlooked furniture. some cases, curved bandy legs and are enough alike to be mistaken for a “Joel and Ann did not jump in head pair. Another favorite is a Woodbury first. Taking time allowed them to edu- highboy with a stepped cornice, per- cate themselves, to evaluate what they haps meant to suggest china shelves. saw and focus on the best examples. I From Litchfield, a Chippendale oxbow hope others will be inspired to see what faux-drawer cabinet was probably a they can do over time. It’s about collect- special order. ing versus decorating,” Tillou says. The couple’s approach to collecting Tillou assembled a team of experts to New England landscape paintings orig- review the Finn holdings, inviting con- inated with Smith’s training at the Uni- servator Robert Lionetti, a contributor versity of Michigan, where she studied to Connecticut Valley Furniture by with David Carew Huntington (1922– Eliphalet Chapin and His Contempo- 1990), the Frederic Edwin Church raries, 1750–1800, to weigh in on the (1826–1900) scholar credited with help- furniture, and paintings conservator ing save the painter’s home, Olana, in Tom Yost to evaluate the fine arts. Their Chippendale bonnet-top highboy, the 1960s. The couple acquired “View conclusions inform catalog and exhibi- Woodbury, Conn., circa 1770–80. from Narragansett” by John Kensett tion. Cherry with poplar secondary wood. (1816–1872) around the time Smith Selections from “The Ann and Joel This handsome piece with closed produced Images of Contentment: John Finn Collection” remain on view bonnet descended in the Stiles fami- Frederick Kensett and The Connecticut through the summer at Jeffrey Tillou ly. It was acquired in the 1980s from Shore, a catalog and exhibition at the Antiques. The gallery is at 39 West Avis Hicock, who lived in the Main Mattatuck Museum in 2001. They drove Street in Litchfield. Street house in Woodbury that had to New York’s Catskill Mountains to For additional information, 860-567- belonged to her great-grandfather study Kaaterskill Clove, a touchstone 9693 or www.tillouantiques.com. David J. Stiles. Edward Cooke Jr illustrated the case piece in his study Queen Anne highboy, probably Woodbury, Conn., circa 1760–80. Cherry Making Furniture in Preindustrial with yellow poplar and white pine secondary woods. This piece descended Furniture, The Social Economy of in the Sherman family of Woodbury and is notable for its stepped cornice, Newtown and Woodbury, Connecticut. a regional characteristic.