Waterford Historical Society (CT)

"The Violin and the Shell" donated to the Waterford Historical Society in 2023

In the summer of 2023, a beautiful oil painting, “The Violin and the Shell,” was donated by a Massachusetts woman to the Waterford Historical Society. The 2004 work by Waterford artist Nelson H. White, valued at $16,000, now hangs in the Town’s First Selectman’s office in Town Hall. Much like an art museum, Town Hall provides a safe, temperature- and humidity-controlled environment to protect this valuable painting.   

The artist, Nelson Holbrook White, is the grandson of Lyme Art Colony artist Henry Cooke White. Inspired and instructed by his grandfather and father, Nelson Cooke White, Nelson decided to devote himself to painting. In 1955, he traveled to Florence, Italy, where he studied with famed painters Pietro Annigoni and Nerina Simi. He continues to work in the United States, Italy, France, Switzerland, and the Bahamas. Nelson has exhibited his work throughout the world and is represented in numerous private and public collections, including the Florence Griswold Museum.

The Society’s strong relationship with the White family of artists makes this a very special gift. 

At its annual event, Art In Waterford: Past+Present+Future, held in 2020, the Society featured works by the White family of artists. The commemorative event booklet contains a complete biographical account of the Whites' artistic influence and renown: "The Whites of Waterford: An American Landscape." Reprinted with the permission of author Jeffrey W. Andersen, former Director of the Florence Griswold Museum, this account can also be read on the Society's website here:
https://www.waterfordcthistoricalsociety.org/program-booklet-aiw-2020---whites.html. The booklet, and those of all Art In Waterford events to date, can also be found in the historical section at the Waterford Public Library in Waterford, Connecticut.