Hidden portrait discovered at Rosen House

Left, circa 1901 portrait of Flora Bigelow by Amanda Brewster Sewell. Bigelow was the mother of Caramoor co-founder Lucy Bigelow Rosen. Right, The hidden earlier portrait of Flora Bigelow by the same artist. COURTESY OF CARAMOOR

Painting concealed behind century-old portrait at Caramoor 

Caramoor in Katonah this week announced the discovery of a hidden portrait concealed beneath a painting that has hung in the historic Rosen House for decades. Conservator Nadia Ghannam made the find while preparing a portrait of Mrs. Charles S. Dodge (née Flora Bigelow), dating from the early 20th century, for treatment.

Both portraits were painted by American artist Amanda Brewster Sewell (1859-1926), and depict Flora Bigelow Dodge (1868-1964), mother of Caramoor co-founder Lucie Bigelow Rosen (1890-1968). Amanda Brewster Sewell was an accomplished artist trained in New York and Paris, France, well known during her lifetime, whose work has been forgotten in the intervening decades. She was the first woman to receive an award from the National Academy of Design. Her work was featured in numerous early 20th century exhibitions, including the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, where six of her works were exhibited. She was a medal winner at multiple art expositions. 

Both portraits are on view in the Rosen House and can be seen during Caramoor’s Holiday Rosen House Tours, running through Dec. 21 at 12:30 and 1 p.m. daily (no tours on Dec. 15). These tours are available by advance ticket purchase only. Caramoor is located at 149 Girdle Ridge Drive, Katonah. For more information, visit caramoor.org.

“Finding a second complete portrait beneath the canvas we sent for conservation was completely unexpected,” said Jessa Krick, director of interpretation, collection and archives at Caramoor’s Rosen House. 

She continued, “Both paintings offer fascinating insights into Flora Dodge’s life during a transformative period, which coincided with her divorce and her evolution as an independent woman at the turn of the 20th century. They are also significant in that they were repeat commissions by a woman from a woman artist, which was very unusual for the time.”

The discovery adds an intriguing layer to the history of Caramoor. Research is ongoing to determine when the earlier portrait was completed and why it was hidden. According to Caramoor historians, one possibility is that after her 1903 divorce from Charles Dodge, Flora Dodge preferred the more dramatic and seductive pose of the later portrait over the earlier, more formal depiction. Her story appears as a case study in April White’s 2021 book, “The Divorce Colony,” which chronicles how wealthy New York women traveled to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in the early 1900s to obtain no-fault divorces, which were unavailable to them in New York. Another theory suggests the double framing may have helped evade customs when Flora sent the painting from London to her daughter, Lucie, in New York in 1964. 

Lucie Bigelow was 11 years old when Sewell painted her portrait, around the same time as her mother’s second portrait. This early exposure to a working female artist appears to have influenced the young girl, who maintained a lifelong interest in art and artists.

Caramoor is also producing a short documentary about the discovery of the hidden painting, featuring interviews with experts filmed on location. The film will explore the discovery process and celebrate the remarkable women at the center of this story.

“The Rosen House has always been at the heart of Caramoor, filled with the music and art the family loved,” said Caramoor president and CEO, Gillian Fox. “We continue to be intrigued by new discoveries like this one and are honored to conserve and share the House and Collection with the public.”

The art-filled Rosen House is decked out for the holidays with decorations inspired by the Rosen family archive. The House itself offers a number of treasures, including complete 18th-century rooms, originally from private villas and chateaux in Italy, France, and England. 

The conservation of the newly discovered portrait was made possible by a grant from the Greater Hudson Heritage Network. A period frame has been acquired and restored by Ammi Ribar of Hudson, New York, to display the newly revealed work alongside its companion piece.