Thaddeus Welch (1844 - 1919)
Untitled (Merry Christmas painting, Bolinas Lagoon)
c. 1900
Oil on canvas, 9 x 18 inches; 11.5 x 21.5 inches framed, Gift of the William A. Pomeroy Family, 2018.4.1
This painting was likely a gift, with “Merry Christmas” written just above the signature. Painted from Willow Camp (now Stinson Beach,) at the end of Bolinas Lagoon looking northwest. Near the center is a small boat with a rower, a dog, and a standing figure with a rifle, who appears to be a woman, perhaps a duck hunter. On the right in tiny brush strokes is a person in a horse-drawn wagon on the barely visible road.
This painting traveled 40,531 miles around the world aboard the Pomeroy yacht Nereus, attached to the cabin wall. The Pomeroy family began their journey in 1963 by sailing close to Bolinas’s Brighton Beach where a large group of their friends cheered them on.
