Stories from the First Cathedral 27: Grace McKinstry Again!
Stories from the First Cathedral 27: Grace McKinstry Again!
I start out correcting myself about Grace McKinstry's painting in the secretary's office in the Guild House of the First Cathedral. I have two corrections: 1) Grace's house was only a city block away from the Cathedral; 2) The small landscape I described was painted from Grace's home in view of Evangeline Whipple's garden next to the Whipple home. Evangeline enjoyed and worked very hard on her garden, which featured many roses and beautiful foliage.
The third McKinstry painting from last week hangs in the Great Hall of the Cathedral Guild House. This is a portrait of Lieutenant Asa T Abbot painted in oil on canvas and measuring 24 inches by 36 inches.
"Dr Dobbin (Headmaster of Shattuck St Mary's) was able in the 1880's to hire Lieutenant Abbott, a Civil War Veteran; then living in St Paul. Though a native of Maine, Abbott had volunteered for the First Minnesota Infantry in April 1861. After the war, he attended the US Artillery School at Fort Meade, and so one of his first projects at Shattuck was to develop an artillery platoon and special drill. This was incorporated into the dress parade routine, adding considerable pageantry and noise" (For a Life of Learning and Service - How Shattuck-St Mary's Came to Be by Robert Neslund).
The painting of Lieutenant Abbot is a portrait of him in his dress uniform. I am assuming that he posed for the portrait. I am also assuming that Shattuck-St Mary's commissioned Grace McKinstry to paint the portrait to remember Lieutenant Asa Abbott. The painting was found at St Mary's Hall. There was a room in the basement of St Mary's Hall that had been unoccupied for decades. There were many treasurers of art and other historical archives from the First Cathedral and Shattuck St Mary's. I was allowed to restore, clean and display these items, when I was Dean of the Cathedral probably about the year 2005 - 2006. I remember the Abbott painting was covered in a dark soot and had a tear in the middle of the canvas. Lieutenant Asa T Abbott's portrait by Grace McKinstry was restored and has a prominent place on display in the Great Hall of the Guild House.