Angel Gabriel Weathervane, (sculpture).

Angel Gabriel Weathervane, (sculpture).

Gould & Hazlett, fabricator. (copy after)

Angel Gabriel Weathervane, (sculpture).

People's Methodist Church Weathervane, (sculpture).

Original 1840. Copy ca. 1980.

Digital Reference:

Gilded copper sheeting.

Approx. H. 34 in. x W. 6 ft. 2 in. x D. 0.074 in. (38 lbs.).

(Inscription inside trumpet is not decipherable)

Atop the spire of the People's Methodist Church is a weathervane depicting the Angel Gabriel flying with his wings extended and a trumpet held up to his mouth. The figure's trumpet is three-dimensional.

Religion -- Angel -- St. Gabriel

Object -- Musical Instrument -- Trumpet

Outdoor Sculpture -- Massachusetts -- Newburyport

People's Methodist Church, 62-64 Purchase Street, Spire, Newburyport, Massachusetts

This Angel Gabriel weathervane is a copy of the original now in the lobby of Newburyport's Five Cents Savings Bank. The original Angel Gabriel weathervane was created in 1840 by Gould & Hazlett for Newburyport's Universalist Church. When the church building was later abandoned, the weathervane was stored in a barn. Around the end of the 19th century, the People's Methodist Church raised funds and purchased the original weathervane for their church spire. The original weathervane remained atop the spire until about 1980 when it was replaced with this copy. The original weathervane (see IAS record MA000694) was then put on display in Newburyport's Five Cent Savings Bank.

In 1937, the United States Government commissioned Lucille Chabotto create a watercolor of Newburyport's Angel Gabriel weathervane. This watercolor later became part of the Index of American Design, housed in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. And it was Chabot's watercolor of the Angel Gabriel weathervane that was used for the 1965 Christmas stamp. IAS files contain a copy of the Massachusetts Historical Commission Form C - Object questionnaire dated February 1994, and a flyer from the Five Cents Savings Bank. For additional information see Myrna Kaye's "Yankee Weathervanes," New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1975, pg. 69-71.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Massachusetts survey, 1997.

For original see: MA000694.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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