October, 1908 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



399 



of the Fine Arts which hangs in its frame on 

 the walls of the study. It was no small honor 

 in 1824 to be chosen for membership in this 

 first of the nation's institutions of culture, and 

 that Irving was deeply conscious of the com- 

 pliment bestowed upon him is shown in his 

 letter of acknowledgment addressed to John 

 Trumbull, the great portrait painter and at 

 that time president of the Academy. 



And speaking of art, it may be of note, in 

 passing, to call attention to the admirable 

 likeness of Irving done in 185 1 by Charles 

 Martin. This portrait was executed soon 

 after the author's life of Mahomet was issued 



The Library 



and when Irving was steeped in the atmosphere of Oriental- 

 ism. Of all his portraits this one has remained the most 

 popular, and is to-day the most generally accepted, as it is 

 the most familiar, of the "counterfeit presentments" of the 

 great master of "Sunnyside." 



As one passes along the narrow entrance-hall, there is 

 offered the glimpse of a small drawing-room at the left; 

 this is done in white and red, with prints and brasses and 

 some rare old mahogany chairs and tables. The music- 

 room is also carried out in a scheme of white and dark red, 

 with a few well-placed paintings on the walls, one a notable 

 landscape piece by Inness. Beyond this room and to the 

 right of it are the living-room, dining-room, billiard-room 

 and the new library, one of the spacious additions to the 

 house made by its present owner. Here are some valuable 

 old tomes, among them the vellum-covered volumes col- 

 lected by Irving for reference when he was at work upon 

 his "Conquest of Granada." To the art lover and liter- 

 arian alike the principal decoration of this room will prove 

 the framed-up lithographic stones used in printing the col- 

 ored illustrations for "Bracebridge Hall." 



An illuminating glimpse of the conditions of life and 

 travel in the early days of the last century are afforded by 

 the diary which Irving kept, with sedulous care and an ap- 

 parent interest, when he was budding into manhood. He 

 was just twenty when he penned an account of his laborious 

 journey up the Hudson to Albany in the company of con- 

 genial friends; a page from the future author's diary is 

 reproduced with these lines, and it gives one an insight of 

 his power of rapid character portrayal and his gift for 

 fastening upon the essentials of a dramatic setting and the 

 larger details of the human figure in its proper environ- 

 ment. His innate sense of humor also flashes across this 



The Reception Hall 



page in a pleasantly ominous way, and gives hint of 

 the unctious mirth which later made him famous 

 on two continents. 



The impression one carries away on leaving 

 "Sunnyside" is that of having visited a perfectly 

 appointed home which boasts the added charm of 

 rare historic and literary association. And on 

 stepping out into the old garden, back a bit from 

 the house, this impression is strengthened, for here 

 is a wooden fencing, preserved intact since Irving's 

 day, and here are old-time flowers grown from the 

 seeds of the blooms that gladdened his eye. 



The Staircase and Grandfather's Clock of the Old Irving Home 



