{"id":383,"date":"2016-05-09T02:49:32","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T02:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/elstoncollection\/?page_id=383"},"modified":"2016-05-09T03:53:03","modified_gmt":"2016-05-09T03:53:03","slug":"j-insco-williams-river-scene","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/elstoncollection\/art-collection\/j-insco-williams-river-scene\/","title":{"rendered":"J. Insco Williams, River Scene"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"J<\/a>John Insco Williams<\/strong>, River Scene<\/em>,\u00a01863, oil on canvas<\/p>\n

John Insco Williams was a well\u00ad-known artist in Indiana during the mid\u00ad-1800\u2019s. Williams had some success in Ohio, where he received his training but moved to Indiana for new opportunities and jobs. There is not much known about Williams beyond one mural titled River Scene. This painting ended in the Elston Home after coming from Isaac Elston II\u2019s wife Sara. It depicts an exciting scene of the western wild with a mighty river, mountains, and pioneers.<\/p>\n

This painting portrays a fantasy place and would accurately explains the fears and insecurities people have about moving westward.\u00a0One of the most interesting and confusing parts of this painting are the figures in the bottom left and right corners. Williams is probably using them to try and\u00a0show us how wild and dangerous the West is. There are huge, steep mountains, men and women on horseback and Indians who are controlling the rivers and water ways. Williams is portraying the dangers of traveling West and expanding into new territory.<\/p>\n

When Isaac C. Elston II married Sara Mills in 1862, this painting resided in the Mills\u2019 house in Marietta, Ohio. This painting, along with others, was removed from the Mills\u2019 house and taken to the Elstons house when the two moved to Crawfordsville. The Mills\u2019 house in Marietta, Ohio, is now the home of the current president of Marietta College.<\/p>\n

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An Image of this painting hanging over a cabinet in the Mills House in the 1800s. The home is decorated with plants and flowers for a wedding. Photographic scrapbook “The Old Homestead”, Robert T. Ramsey Jr. Archival Center, Wabash College, Crawfordsville, IN, file DC1022j.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Click the links below for more information about\u00a0this painting and artist:<\/p>\n