Angel Gabriel Weathervane, (sculpture).

Angel Gabriel Weathervane, (sculpture).

Gould & Hazlett, fabricator.

Angel Gabriel Weathervane, (sculpture).

1840. Relocated late 19th c. Relocated ca. 1980.

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)

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

Five Cent Savings Bank, 63 State Street, Lobby, Newburyport, Massachusetts

Formerly located People's Methodist Church, 62-64 Purchase Street, Spire, Newburyport, Massachusetts Late 19th c. - ca. 1980.

Formerly located Universalist Church, Spire, Newburyport, Massachusetts 1840.

The weathervane was created in 1840 for Newburyport's Universalist Church, but 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 weathervane for their church spire. The weathervane remained atop the spire until about 1980 when it was taken down and replaced with a copy (see IAS record MA000695). The original weathervane was then put on display at the Five Cent Savings Bank. In 1938 and in 1965, the weathervane was repaired and regilded.

In 1937, the United States Government commissioned Lucille Chabot to 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 copy see: MA000695.

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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