12/12/2023
LOTHROP TURNER HOLMES (1821-1899), KINGSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.
Offered here, is a Golden Plover shorebird decoy by Lothrop Holmes, circa 1870.
This decoy, was purchased out of a Maryland private collection some 40 years ago by a Connecticut collector who had the work examined and attributed by Guyette & Deeter.
$2,300.00
Adele Earnest, in the "Art of the Decoy" wrote: "The most sophisticated carver of the Nineteenth Century was undoubtedly Lothrop T. Holmes of Kingston.”
So prized are the creations attributed to Holmes that a Red Breasted Merganser (with a replaced bill) shattered the record for a decoy sold at auction at Christie’s in 2007 for $856,000.00 - a record that stands to this day.
In conversations with decoy scholar and dealer, Dick McIntyre, on the carved birds of Lothrop Holmes, McIntyre states-
“His paint application is distinctive….. Bold, crisp, vibrant…… His paint was certainly not copied from any other of his contemporaries….. Most of his decoys exhibited a lifelike appearance, and very sophisticated paint.”
While the market clearly prizes Lothrop Holmes’ decoys, surprisingly little is known about the maker. Indeed, even in his obituary from a Kingston, Massachusetts newspaper, no mention is made of his carving abilities, while his work as a shipbuilder, machine parts moulder in Providence Rhode Island and cemetery superintendent in Kingston are duly recorded. Contemporary journal entries, however, from New England hunters who acquired decoys directly from Holmes add concrete evidence that indeed Lothrop carved and that his decoys were prized amongst his peers. In researching these decoys and Lothrop Holmes, I decided a deeper historical dive was necessary.
Lothrop Turner Holmes, was born to a large and prominent family that can trace its roots back to the arrival of the pilgrims at nearby Plymouth Rock (Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes is from the same large clan). Generationally, many “Holmes” and “Turner” men were involved in local ship-building and sailing/merchant interests, professions that historically are a very good indicator that decoy carving took place amongst the “Turner-Holmes” families. Additionally, “Turner-Holmes” women of the area were locally famous for sampler embroidery and decorative painting, amongst other artistic crafts.
While ancestral details are incomplete, location and timeline bear likely evidence that Lothrop T. Holmes’ grandparents were a Swedish-born woman named “Marie de Verdier Turner “Törner” (1789–1838) and a Plymouth Massachusetts ship captain and boat-builder, also named “Lothrop Holmes(Sr.) ”.
Marie (Mary) de Verdier Turner (1789–1838) is thought to have introduced needlework, painting, and music into the Plymouth area school curriculum by 1813. Marie met her husband, Captain Lothrop Holmes (Sr.) (1791-1824), in her hometown of Malmo, Sweden and subsequently moved “across the pond” to to Plymouth area.
In Massachusetts, amongst the local Holmes families, Marie (now “Americanized” to “Mary”) would have introduced a uniquely Swedish style of art and design to her new family. In particular, (and for our purposes of examination) clear parallels can be drawn between the paint designs of 18th century Swedish furniture and the paint designs of Lothrop Holmes decoys. The unique and highly stylized paint patterns often found in Swedish dowry chests and cupboards bear remarkable similarity to descendent, Lothrop T. Holmes’ birds. (Lucas Natali, 2023).
