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

The Matron of the Valley

Oil on Canvas, c. 1955

Collection of: James M. Dignon

From: Pownal, Vermont

Commissioned alongside a more relaxed likeness, this formal portrait of Rufus Bellamy’s wife reflects the dual role she held in her community and household. Seated in a padded, barrel-back chair, she wears a dark tipped hat crowned with an elaborate red feather, matched by her lipstick and softened by a string of pearls at her collar. The shift from her simpler day-to-day attire to this carefully arranged blouse and feathered hat suggests an intention to capture not just the woman at work, but the woman at her fullest dignity.

Painted around the same time as her husband’s paired portraits, this work highlights the Bellamys as figures of endurance and quiet elegance in mid-century Vermont—rooted in the land, yet carrying themselves with a composure that belonged equally to their orchard and their valley.

Measurements: 30” x 40”