Several months ago I began work on a series of paintings of a beautiful old abandoned house I discovered via an article in Virginia Living Magazine.This is the third completed painting in that series.

The house is currently owned and cared for by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA) and they have generously allowed me access to it. I've included some information about it from their website below. And yes, the Churchill Family mentioned are part of the family of Winston Churchill. When the Revolutionary War started, some of the family went back to England and some went down south and eventually started Churchill Downs.

I've also included a little video of some scenes of the house along with me beginning the painting (the movie will take a few minutes to load.) You will need the latest version of Quicktime to view it. Enjoy.

Duane

an update: The Wilton House paintings are now in a private collection.

click an image to see a larger image:

Historic Wilton in Middlesex County, Va.
Middlesex County, Virginia
Built: ca. 1750

This old Virginia brick home of the Churchill family is one of the great mid-sized planter's houses of the 18th century. Revered by laymen and architectural historians alike, it has rarely been seen by the public. The rich paneling has the original paint, the floors never sanded; the horse-hair plaster is multi-shaded and cracked with age, and the superb walnut stair is intact and sound. Wilton was built as a typical story-and-one-half house about 1750, and was the center of a 6,000-acre plantation. The walls are carefully laid in Flemish bond, with precise brickwork especially evident in the jack arches. Note the beefy chimney caps with plaster washes.
In 1762, William Churchill added the wing and covered both sections with a gambrel/Dutch roof. The rear terminates in a flashy hipped or clipped gable. Inside, the fully paneled parlor was left alone, but the stair hall was narrowed (see the floor marks), an arch cut through the back, and the entrance re-oriented to the west side of the wing. The walnut stair, installed in the 1762 section, is unusually well proportioned and features a unique cushion frieze under the stair landing.