New Portrait of Mary Lyon
Unveiled at Mount Holyoke
Painted from an Old Picture Discovered After Many Years -
Addresses by Dr Edward Hitchcock, President Woolley and Miss Louise Rogers Jewett
An occasion of unusual interest occurred on Tuesday afternoon in Dwight Memorial hall at Mount Holyoke college, when a new portrait of Mary Lyon was unveiled in the presence of many friends of the college. This portrait was painted recently by Miss Louise Rogers Jewett, professor of art at Mount Holyoke college. Among the alumnae present were Mrs Hubbard, 1842 and Mrs Dwight, 1841, of Holyoke, Mrs Mary Dame Hall, 1870, of Detroit, and Mrs Harris, 1870, of Chicago.
President Woolley introduced Dr Edward Hitchcock, the only member of the board of trustees who ever knew Miss Lyon, who spoke as follows:-
I was born almost a hundred years ago, and because I was born away back there it happens that I knew Mary Lyon, and, as Miss Woolley said, there are few living who ever saw Mary Lyon. There were two women concerned in this, one woman who found a picture of her, and another who has found an artist to paint it on canvas. Now I am not an orator. As Brutus says, that is not my business, and I am not going to give an oration upon Mary Lyon, but a few facts might seem to bring Mary Lyon near. When I was a boy, about the year '36, '37, '38, Mary Lyon was a very constant visitor at my father's house in Amherst, where he was a professor, and she often staid with us. It was there that she did a great deal of ground work of Mount Holyoke college - it was then of course Mount Holyoke seminary. To me at that time she was an interesting woman, but she did not impress me as anyone very marvelous. She perhaps took more interest in me than I did in her, for she took the time to lift me a little, to give me some good thoughts, and to give me some inspiration. She died the year I graduated from Amherst college. As I have said, I do not want to talk with you about any ideal Mary Lyon, for that has been done many times, books have been written and sermons preached about her, but I do remember and want to tell you how that lady looked. I remember her appearance. It was striking in a sense, and there was substance and character in it. She had a quick step; she stepped rather lively, but she had something in her eye, in her face, in her countenance, that would hold anyone. Now as I have said she was often at my father's house. How many times I have brought her over the Notch, sometimes in winter when I thought I should freeze, and that perhaps she would freeze, too. In those days she often invited me to the platform, and I rather enjoyed sitting there before so many; better in those days than I did when I was older.
I had many a ride with Mary Lyon. My father, Miss Lyon and Miss Whitman once went up to Vermont on a geological trip. I drove Miss Lyon and Miss Whitman and had a little seat in the carriage between them. Once she asked if I thought she could drive, and she drove for a little while. Yonder is the picture and you will see it unveiled before long and I am here to say how characteristic this picture is. I want you young ladies to remember that this is a most natural picture of Mary Lyon. It is the most natural picture of her that has ever been made and this was made from a little daguerreotype, which shows Mary Lyon just as she was three or four years before she died. A very dear friend has found the dollars and our Prof Jewett has the honor of having put the best picture of Mary Lyon on canvas that has ever been made. It is not quite as good to me as this daguerreotype, because she has put some embellishments on Lyon's dress. She used to wear a turban for awhile, and later she wore a cap. Now I have spoken this afternoon to you of the artist, and of myself because I want you to remember that in my judgment this is the best and most natural picture of Mary Lyon. May you treasure and keep it, and remember her sweetness and her noble character.
President Woolley spoke as follows: You already know that there are three people to whom we are very much indebted this afternoon. One of them has just spoken, but we are more indebted to him than he would be willing to admit. I have heard many people say that there was no good picture of Mary Lyon; that they have never seen a picture of Mary Lyon that was not a caricature. Others have written that her face was glowing and beautiful, and today it is such a pity that the girls of to-day cannot realize how she looked. But Dr Hitchcok [sic] was the man who said that we must have another picture of Miss Lyon, and when he found this excellent daguerreotype his first thought was to put that in another form. The second person to whom we are much indebted to-day is Miss Hazen. She put into the gift the thought and feeling of so many, and she secured the money, about $200 or more, which made it possible to have such a portrait and the frame to put it in. It is by no means a small debt of gratitude we owe to her.
There are two or three ways in which we are particularly indebted to Miss Jewett. You will see the portrait for yourselves and I must differ from my friend who thinks that there should be no artistic touches, for anything which is not living we must make as nearly living as possible. I imagine if we had seen Miss Lyon we should have seen a charm which only life can give; we should leave out nothing which details may add to make a picture seem a living presence. I have sometimes thought that knowing of one who lived many years ago that she was very good, we are likely to hold her at arm's length. This may have been the feeling of many of us about Miss Lyon, for we all know that she was very good. We also know that she was very able, she was a great executive, and had strong qualities, but I think that we sometimes forget that she had a sense of fun, and a personal magnetism which was more than usual. She had many favorites. So many have told me that they were Miss Lyon's favorites that I am sure she must have been very impartial. As we go back and forth and look upon that picture face, we can feel that we have seen the earnest, warm-hearted, living woman, and I am sure we shall all be deeply grateful. I am going to ask Miss Jewett to tell you of the picture for herself, and then show it as it stands to-day.
Miss Jewett said in unveiling the portrait: In the year 1845 Miss Lyon sat for a daguerreotype, which she gave to one of her pupils who was going as a missionary to India. The existence of this little picture was unknown or forgotten until 1904, when the daughter of the missionary returned to this country and brought it with her. A photograph made from the daguerreotype has been the chief source of information in the attempt at a new portrait. The dim little picture seems more convincing and satisfying than the other likenesses of Mary Lyon, having a suggestion of the vigor, animation and sense of humor which accord with what is known of her character and conduct, and that delicate modeling which is the great charm of daguerreotypes. The other information was obtained from descriptions of Miss Lyon's appearance. These also suggest the color scheme of the new portrait. Miss Lyon had, we are told, auburn hair, bright blue eyes and a fresh color. The ribbons of Mount Holyoke blue upon her cap were needed to echo the color of her eyes, and the color of her dress was chosen to match her hair.
A portrait made under these conditions can hardly be more than an earnest and sympathetic character study. Any idealized or fanciful treatment would be out of harmony with the subject.
The following description of Miss Lyon by Mrs Boynton, a Mount Holyoke graduate of 1848, shows how she seemed to those who knew her: "Rather under the medium hight [sic], with a strong, muscular frame, a florid complexion, with blazing, light-blue, Saxon eyes, kindly, severe, or pathetic as occasion warranted, but with now and then a sparkle of merriment; hair of palest auburn, the sunny waves just sparsely threaded with gray, and so riotous in habit as to be never quite as smooth as fashion decreed, strands of it waving and jiggling about her temples in an entirely unwished for manner. She always wore a demure little lace cap, strings flying as she hurried about, with a generous coil of her beautiful hair gleaming through its thin meshes behind.
The pen is mightier than the brush, and a loving memory more vivid than the most enthusiastic effort of the imagination. The present work can never satisfy those who still remember Miss Lyon, but it will serve its purpose if it can make more real to those who never knew her the vivacity and ardor of her temperament and the strength of will and charm of manner by which she beguiled the most unwilling into doing her bidding and furthering her enterprises.