On Thursday, December 10, 2020, a portrait of clockmaker Eli Bartholomew returned to Bristol, finding a new home at the American Clock & Watch Museum.

The Museum was the winning bidder at the November 18th online auction presented by Keno Auctions of New York. The painting had previously belonged to a gentleman in California, who had purchased it from
a family in San Diego with New England roots.

Patti Philippon, the Museum’s Executive Director, said, “We are so glad to see this portrait return home. The Museum is truly where it belongs. At the time the portrait was painted, Bristol was the center for clock making in the United States. And today, the Museum is considered the foremost horological museum focusing on both the history of American-made timepieces and the importance that they continue to hold for our community.”

The oil on canvas shows Eli Bartholomew in ¾ profile, holding a card in his hand that reads “August 1836 / M. Eli Bartholomew / Bristol / Conn.”

The work is attributed to Ammi Phillips, a well-known itinerant
portrait painter who worked from the mid-1810s through the early 1860s. At the time this painting was commissioned, Philipps was painting in Ulster County, New York and Litchfield County, Connecticut.

Eli Bartholomew was born in 1802 in Bristol, Connecticut. He was raised in Henshaw, Ohio, but returned to Connecticut as an adult. Around 1828, he started a clock making business with his cousin, George Washington Bartholomew, in a factory located on Maple Avenue in Bristol.

Their partnership, E. & G.W. Bartholomew, lasted until 1833 when Eli started a short-lived solo business, “Eli Bartholomew & Co.”

He sold the clock business and first moved to Hartford, Connecticut, and then later Cleveland, Ohio, where he lived until his death in 1887.

During his prime years as a clockmaker, Bartholomew produced affordable 30-hour shelf clocks with time and strike wood movements. They featured mahogany veneer, gold-on-black stenciled columns and crest, and eglomise panels (a process where the reverse side of a piece of glass is painted and then gilded with gold or silver leaf, resulting in a soft mirror-like reflective surface) on their doors.

Ian Roome, member of the Museum’s Board of Directors and Chair of its Artifacts Committee said, “This live portrait of one of the seminal Bristol, Connecticut, clockmakers is a significant addition to the
Museum’s existing collection of portraits of the early 19th century industrialists who founded the massive clock industry here in Connecticut. It augments the Museum’s ability to create a more intimate
view of these early pioneers, not only with respect to the ingenious products they created, but also to
their lives, the businesses they created, their challenges, successes and sometimes failures. It brings to life the human narrative behind these great individuals and makes them accessible to the Museum’s visitors and researchers as well.”

Now that the portrait is home in Bristol, the Museum plans to have the painting conserved. There are several tears and small punctures in the canvas that will need to be repaired. The painting is currently
unframed, and the Museum will also need to locate a period-appropriate frame before the portrait can be put on display.

Once the conservation work is completed, the Museum plans to display Bartholomew’s portrait along with several of his timepieces that are already in the Museum’s collection.

“This scarce opportunity to acquire a portrait of a noteworthy American clockmaker is a great thrill for us and will positively enhance the story we tell.” said Brendan Sullivan, President of the Museum’s Board of Directors.