Painted Ambitions: The Masonic Murals in the Elisha Gilbert House

Abstract

This article investigates the masonic murals in the Elisha Gilbert House in New Lebanon, NY, looking into the circumstances of their creation, and their relationship to the role that freemasonry played in the region. The murals are found to be similar to those in the Calvin Hall Tavern in Cheshire, MA, and posits dating and a potential artist for both cycles, and investigates their relationship to the standardization of early American printed masonic iconography.