The Luyster Farm
Artist
David Provost Van Brackle
Periodca. 1880 - 1900
MediumOil on paper mounted to a canvas backing
Dimensions21.25 × 27.25 in. (54 × 69.2 cm)
ClassificationsLandscapes & Still Life
Credit LineGift of the Estate of Anne Jackson Riker, 1983
Object number1983.9.4
DescriptionDepiction of a Dutch-style farmhouse in a salt-box configuration with two separate divided-door entrances, that on the left with two benches on either side of a wood-floored stoop. The house also features sash windows, and two chimneys on the gable ends. A road crosses the painting in front of the house, which is surrounded by a combination of board and picket fencing. A large barn to the left of the house and its yard is also surrounded by board fencing, as is the pasture in the foreground which is on the opposite side of the road from the farmstead. Outbuildings include a well house on the left rear corner of the house, and what may be a corn crib to the right of the barn. An area of the field to the left of the barn is covered with a slanted roof on posts, and a plant support system has been depicted in front of it. Two oxen are shown in the foreground pasture. A female figure is opening the barnyard gate, and a male figure holds the reins of a brown horse to the left of a large tree in the barnyard. Other trees and bushes surround the house within its fenced yard. A second male figure on horseback has just passed the barnyard entrance heading to the left on the road. A partly cloudy sky completes the composition.Curatorial RemarksAlthough not signed, the attribution to local artist David P. Van Brackle (1823 - 1922) dates back at least to the mid 1930s. The painting was used at that time by the surveyors of the Historic American Buildings Survey when recording the Luyster House. An artist on the team named Francis H. Cruess created a pen and ink drawing of the house as it looked before renovations carried out about 1928 by John P. Luyster (1874 - 1957) which substantially altered the appearance of the ancient structure. Cruess's legend on the drawing states, "Taken from a painting by David P. Van Brackle, about 1860." Van Brackle, a school teacher in Monmouth County for 54 years, taught for seven years between 1858 and 1865 at the Holland School erected in 1841 on the west side of Laurel Avenue just north of its intersection with Holland Road. John Luyster closed up the house's two separate front entrances, created a centered doorway that opened into a new central interior hallway with full staircase to the second floor. He also added windows to the south elevation of the house, and three dormers in the roof to improve natural light on the second floor. To preserve this important local landmark, the Luyster House was moved in 1998 roughly a quarter mile to a new location on Red Hill Road in Middletown village.NotesThe Luyster Farm was located on the north side of Holland Road in Middletown Township, Monmouth County, just east of its intersection with Laurel Avenue. Johannes Luyster settled on this property in 1717. The 18th century house was built in two sections, the earlier being the right hand portion. The farm remained in family hands until 1946. The male and female figures in the barnyard are probably Garret S. Luyster (1843 - 1923) and his wife, Sarah Burrowes (1843 - 1922). A longstanding tradition states that the male figure on horseback is Sen. William Henry Hendrickson (1813 - 1899), owner of an adjacent farm west of Laurel Avenue.
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