An Indiana treasure: Painting by Hoosier artist is restored for Indianapolis parish
Father Stephen Giannini stands in front of of a painting by noted Hoosier artist Richard Buckner Gruelle which was found last fall in poor condition in a storage room at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis. It was restored to its current condition by Sue McCallister, a member of St. Agnes Parish in Nashville. (Photo by Sean Gallagher)
By Sean Gallagher
Father Stephen Giannini just might have an “Antiques Roadshow” story on his hands.
The popular Public Broadcasting Service television show highlights people who have found a family heirloom hidden away in their homes or an antique which they bought for next to nothing at a garage sale only to find out on the show that it is rare, highly sought after by collectors and worth a lot of money.
Last fall, Father Giannini, the pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Indianapolis, was helping prepare for a rummage sale by cleaning out storage rooms in the basement of the rectory, which dates from the 1860s, when a parishioner found an old painting that had rips and holes in it.
“It had a film of dust on it,” Father Giannini said. “We were taking things out of the basement to the garage to get ready for the sale. And this was one of the things that we took out. We just took a wadded up paper towel and started trying to get some of the dust off.”
The oil painting depicts two religious sisters. One is an artist, working on a painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The other sister is seated behind the artist, apparently reading a book. The background of the painting shows many other paintings and drawings hanging on a wall, making the setting appear to be an artist’s studio.
Shortly before the painting was put with other rummage sale items, a parishioner looked at the signature of the artist, R. B. Gruelle. She asked that the painting be held back so that she could do some research.
“She came back the next day and said, ‘Father, make sure that’s not in the garage sale,’ ” Father Giannini said.
As it turned out, Richard Buckner Gruelle (1851-1914) was a prominent Indiana artist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a member of what was known as the “Hoosier Group” of artists based in Indianapolis. He was also active among the painters who frequented an artists’ colony in Brown County made notable by famous Hoosier artist T.C. Steele.
Many of Gruelle’s paintings are now worth thousands of dollars.
After learning that his parish owns one of Gruelle’s paintings, Father Giannini wanted it restored.
Giving back the gift
Father Giannini was referred to Sue McCallister, a member of St. Agnes Parish in Nashville, who works full time as an art restorationist.
McCallister has restored several works by members of the Hoosier Group and other painters who were active in the artists’ colony in Brown County. She has lived among the scenic, wooded hills of Brown County for 35 years.
When she received the painting, McCallister had her doubts about what she could do to restore it, but not about her desire to help the Church.
“It was almost totally rotted,” she said. “I told [Father Giannini] that I didn’t know if I could even get it all back together, but that if I could I would do it for him for nothing. It was in very poor shape.”
After working for more than a month on the painting, McCallister returned it to St. John Parish in its current restored state.
When asked why she did so much work for nothing, McCallister had a simple answer. “I have the gift,” she said, “so I give the gift back.”
Questions and answers
With the painting restored and hanging in Father Giannini’s rectory office, questions about it remained.
Why did Gruelle create this painting? Did someone commission it? Who were the religious sisters in the painting? And why was it in storage at St. John’s rectory?
The first two questions seem to have been answered by some research that Msgr. John Doyle, who died in 1985, did in 1976.
According to a letter in the files of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Msgr. Doyle—who taught for many years at Marian University in Indianapolis and lived at St. John’s rectory in the 1970s—had apparently examined the painting around that time and noticed an inscription on it that read, “To the Chatard G.”
From his knowledge of the history of the archdiocese, Msgr. Doyle determined that Gruelle presented the painting to the Chatard Guild, a literary society established by Bishop Francis Silas Chatard while the bishop was living at St. John Parish between 1878 and 1892.
As to who the religious sisters are in the painting, Father Giannini suspected that, due to the nature of their habit—especially a cord worn around and hanging down from the waist of the seated sister—they were members of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis based in Oldenburg.
According to Franciscan Sister Francis Assisi Kennedy, the archivist for the Oldenburg Franciscans, Franciscan Sister Mary Rose Droitcour was known as an accomplished artist and taught art at the former St. Mary Academy in Indianapolis from 1898 until her death in 1930.
The biographical records for Sister Mary Rose at Oldenburg show that she was born in 1859 and grew up in Jennings County, where she was a member of St. Anne Parish.
The academy where Sister Mary Rose taught was adjacent to the Lockerbie Square neighborhood. According to information about the neighborhood on the Web site of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Gruelle and his family lived there during some of his years in Indianapolis.
Given that Sister Mary Rose and Gruelle were both artists and may have lived and worked close to each other, there is a good possibility that she is the religious sister who is the artist in the painting.
If Sister Mary Rose is depicted in the painting, then the years during which Gruelle could have painted it are limited.
She came to Indianapolis to teach in 1898. And, according to the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, Gruelle and his family moved to Connecticut in 1910.
Sister Francis Assisi was not surprised to learn that one of her predecessors in her religious community would be the subject of a painting where she was portrayed as an artist.
She said that, from early on in their congregation’s history, the Oldenburg Franciscans in their educational ministry had a “high standard” in art education.
“Support of the arts was high,” Sister Francis Assisi said. “I’ve got rooms filled with photographs of various kinds of artwork.”
‘A gift for the parish’
Father Giannini appreciates the historic work of art now hanging in his office at St. John, the oldest parish in Indianapolis, which was founded in 1837, just three years after the Diocese of Vincennes was established.
“It’s a gift for the parish anew,” he said. “Living here and ministering here in these buildings, I have the history of the archdiocese around me all of the time.
“Who else has looked at this painting? Bishop Chatard himself? Past pastors? Parishioners who have come here for help because they were in need in some way?”
The painting also speaks to the life of faith of the pastor of St. John, who also serves as the archdiocesan vicar for clergy and parish life coordinators.
“[Mary] is the work in the painting that is not completed yet,” Father Giannini said. “The sister who is painting the image of Mary is, in a sense, revealing her on the canvas, revealing her to us. And she’s not yet complete.
“As in our work, as in our ministry, as in our family relationships, in the art of our lives, God is [also] being revealed and his mysteries are being revealed. It’s not something that we experience once when we look at a painting and we’re finished with it. No, just as with the sister who’s working on the painting, it’s being revealed” as we live our lives. †
