The design tile for the Sacred Themes in the Art of Mayflower Descendants features American painter and Mayflower descendant William Bradford Green (1871–1945) and a church scene titled on the reverse California Ecclesiasts by the Border.

Green descended through his mother, Alice Bradford Green, from Mayflower passenger and Plymouth governor William Bradford. He studied with artists including William Merritt Chase and Robert Blum, exhibited widely, and was associated with the Copley Society, Salmagundi Club, Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts, and Hartford Salmagundians. A 1937 California newspaper also noted his exhibitions at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the New York Watercolor Society.

California became an important subject in Green’s later work. In 1934, the Hartford Courant reported an exhibition of about forty watercolors, mostly landscapes and seascapes of the California coast, following a five-month stay there. Three years later, an exhibition in Palos Verdes featured twenty-five watercolors and drawings of Southern California.

The word “ecclesiasts” refers to churchmen or members of the clergy. Although the exact California location depicted in the painting is still under research, the title written on the reverse fits directly within Green’s documented interest in Southern California subjects.

Green remained active in the Connecticut art community throughout his life and was later commemorated by the William Bradford Green Memorial Prize for Landscape.

This work offers a fitting beginning to the collection: a sacred subject painted by a descendant of one of the best-known figures of Plymouth Colony, more than three centuries after the Mayflower arrived.

Sources and Further Reading

William Bradford Green — Artist Biography
Biographical information on Green, including his training, artistic associations, and California painting trips.
askART — William Bradford Green

William Bradford Green — Associations and Training
Additional information on Green’s teachers and connections with organizations including the Copley Society, Salmagundi Club, and Hartford Salmagundians.
askART — William Bradford Green Artist Record

William Bradford — Mayflower Passenger and Governor of Plymouth Colony
Biographical information on William Bradford, his voyage aboard the Mayflower, and his leadership in Plymouth Colony.
American Ancestors — William Bradford Biography

William Bradford Green Memorial Prize for Landscape
Later records documenting the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts’ William Bradford Green Memorial Prize for Landscape.
C. Sperry Andrews III — Biography and Awards

Contemporary Newspaper Research

The Hermosa Beach Review, August 12, 1937, documented Green’s Southern California exhibition and summarized his artistic training, memberships, and exhibition history.

The Hartford Courant, November 24, 1934, reported that Green had recently spent five months in California and was exhibiting approximately forty watercolors, mostly landscapes and seascapes of the California coast.

Green’s 1945 obituary identified him as an artist and musician, a member of the council of the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts, and the son of James Stewart Green and Alice Bradford Green.