The Earle family : Ralph Earle and his descendants

88 THE EARLE FAMILY [Sixth
Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut. He left several works
that gained him much credit ; and among them was a large one,
the 'Falls of Niagara,' which was much admired. He painted for
Col. Thomas Denny a landscape of much merit, and great fidelity of
representation, embracing the beautiful and picturesque view that
spreads out towards the east from the mansion-house on the old
Denny farm,* so called ; which is still preserved and in good condition.
His productions were chiefly in the line of portraits, many of
which might have formerly been found in Northampton and Springfield.
Among his last works of this kind were portraits of Gov.
Strong and his family."
Dunlap's opinion of him as an artist is as follows :
"He had considerable merit; a breadth of light and shadow;
facility of handling, and truth in likeness."
To this estimate of him it becomes our duty to add the remark of
Gov. Washburn, that " his habits unfortunately stood between him
and that eminence in his profession which genius had originally
placed within his reach."
In an obituary notice of Ralph's son, Capt. John Earle, in the
Worcester Palladium of April 30, 1S56, it is stated that while in
England Ralph " painted the portraits of many of the nobility, and
of some of the royal family" ; and that his picture of Niagara Falls
"was exhibited in all parts of the country, and was then carried to
London, where it was in existence but a few years ago."
The above-mentioned landscape taken from the Denny farm is still
well preserved, and is in the possession of Christopher C. Denny, of
Leicester, who received it from the heirs of Mrs. Lucretia, widow of
Thomas Denny, for whom it was painted.
Dunlap's mistake in giving to Ralph some military experience in
the early part of the Revolutionary war, can be explained only by
the facts that Clark Earle [301-2], the brother of Ralph, " marched
to Cambridge" from Paxton, Mass., in Capt. Phinehas Moore's
and that Ralph Earle, father of Ralph the
company, in April, 1775 ;
artist, held a captain's commission and served during the larger part
of the war.
Gov. Washburn's statement (History of Leicester, page 209) that
it was Ralph who married in London, is incorrect, as will be seen
by our history of his brother James [303-4].
* On Denny hill, in the southeast part of Leicester.