Art Work | Oil on Canvas | The Keeper of the Valley

The Keeper of the Valley

Oil on Canvas, c. 1955

Collection of: James M. Dignon

From: Pownal, Vermont

This second portrait of Rufus Bellamy presents him in a more formal pose, distinguished by a change of dress but marked by the same quiet strength seen in The Orchard Keeper. Where the first canvas ties him directly to his orchard, this painting expands his presence, suggesting Bellamy as a figure inseparable from the broader valley he returned to after the war. Locals remembered him as a man who embodied endurance and solitude, tending both land and memory with equal care. The artist’s restrained palette and somber background frame Bellamy not just as a farmer, but as a custodian of place and time—an enduring presence in the southern Vermont hills.

Measurement's: 

W: 30”x H: 40”