6. ‘Blessed Are The Peacemakers’ (2021) by Budleigh Salterton artist John Washington (1945- )

© John Washington 2021

The artist has depicted an incident in 1625 when Roger Conant, founder of Salem, Massachusetts, mediated in a potentially violent situation between Plymouth Colony military Captain Myles Standish and some fishermen at Cape Ann, Massachusetts. Conant, born in 1592 at East Budleigh, Devon, had emigrated to New England some two years before the events depicted in the painting.

John Washington graduated from Wimbledon Art School in illustration and worked in design and advertising agencies in this country and abroad before settling in retirement at Budleigh Salterton on the coast of East Devon.

John Washington in costume as Sir John Everett Millais 

Painting scenes from history is not John Washington’s usual activity as an artist. However in 2018 he was involved in a project based on the re-enactment of a scene from Budleigh Salterton’s history. The Pre-Raphaelite artist Sir John Everett Millais visited the town in order to start work on his celebrated painting ‘The Boyhood of Raleigh’.   

The project was part of the exhibition staged by the town’s Fairlynch Museum to mark the 400^th anniversary of the death of Sir Walter Raleigh, born a few miles away in the village of East Budleigh.   

Cllr Tom Wright (Mayor of Budleigh) admires 'The Boyhood of Raleigh' by Sir John Everett Millais at the opening of the Raleigh 400 exhibition on Monday 28 May 2018. There is no historical basis for Millais’ painting. The young Walter Raleigh, wearing a green costume, was at least ten years younger than his half-brother Humphrey Gilbert who is supposed to be the other boy in the painting

Soon after that event, a local village group invited John Washington to depict Roger Conant, as the second East Budleigh historical figure with American connections. It was felt that the 400^th anniversary of Conant’s voyage to New England deserved to be marked in some way.

Originally the idea of a statue of Conant was suggested before that of a painting. However no portrait of Salem’s founder exists to show how he looked. It was decided that a painting based on the 17^th century historian William Hubbard’s account of the 1625 incident at Cape Ann would give a better insight into the character of Roger Conant.

The subject would now take on a dramatic quality to portray the violence of the age. After all, you could say that Conant is mediating in an episode which could have led to the first civil war in America. Back in his home country of England families would indeed shortly be torn apart by civil war, caused largely by differences of religion.  

The first sketches for the painting were made in May 2020. ‘The content of the painting has developed significantly from what I initially thought would be a quite straightforward portrait,’ explained John Washington.  

While a certain amount of artistic licence was inevitable historical details such as dress and the geographical location were researched in depth. You can read the artist’s account of the project on his website here.  (Summer 2020).   

 

The Roger Conant statue which stands at the corner of Brown Street and Washington Square in Salem. Image credit John Andrews

The work has been well received both in the UK and in America, being described by Conant descendant Joseph Bolton, of Leominster, Massachusetts as a beautiful painting and ‘a far more fitting tribute to Roger Conant than his statue in Salem’.

Joseph Bolton goes on to comment on the historical background evoked in the painting, contrasting the behaviour of the Plymouth Pilgrims who had sailed to America in 1620 on the Mayflower with the peace-loving character of later settlers like Conant:

‘Plymouth’s colonists, under pressure from starvation and uncertain leadership gave in to fear and that fear led to fanaticism and intolerance.  The slightest offense was punished with beatings, the most infamous being when John Oldham was compelled to run a gauntlet of his fellow Plymouth neighbors hitting him with their muskets.  Roger Conant, much like his philosophical fellow traveler Roger Williams, found the fanatical intolerance of his fellow Puritans distasteful.  Like Roger Williams, he chose not to add to the civil strife by confrontation but instead left to start a new colony built on peace and nonviolence.  For Roger Conant, it was a move north along the shore to Nantasket and Cape Ann.  There he and his fellow settlers found a community based on civil cooperation, not confrontation. It also was where everyone was free to worship as they pleased. 

‘A short time later Roger Conant was supplanted as governor by John Endicott.  Unlike others, Roger Conant did not seek power for his own ends and in an example of humility, he stepped aside without protest for John Endicott.  It was here that Roger gifted the future United States with an example of the peaceful transfer of power and of public service guided by a humble desire to serve and not be served.’

As for the events depicted in ‘Blessed Are The Peacemakers’, Joseph Bolton finds inspiration in John Washington’s portrayal of the character:

‘It takes courage to stand in front of one angry armed man. It takes even more courage to place oneself between two angry and nervous armed groups looking for a confrontation.  Yet, that is exactly what Roger Conant did. Not giving in to fear, he chose not to get caught up with the moment and join in the violence. Roger courageously placed himself, unarmed, between the groups and negotiated a peaceful solution.

Conant’s bravery is all the more remarkable given what we know of the reputation of Myles Standish. Traditionally he has been seen as a courageous soldier, ably defending the 1620 Mayflower Pilgrims, although it’s worth noting that he was described as ‘the renowned Indian-slayer’ by the 19^th century historian Lorenzo Sabine. 

Modern views of this Plymouth Pilgrims’ protector include some highly negative accounts of his behaviour.  ‘The history I learned in school made Standish a hero,’ writes Roger Conant’s descendant Jeff Conant in his blog The Watering Hole as recently as September 2022.

‘In our whitewashed Thanksgiving myth he is the Puritan with a polished helmet and a musket on his shoulder.’  The reality is rather different, Jeff continues, quoting Nathaniel Philbrick’s bestselling book Mayflower. ‘With flaming red hair and so small in stature that he was called “Captain Shrimp” by other Englishmen and “the little pot that boils over quickly” by the natives, Standish would appear as buffoonish were it not for his brutality. As head of the Plymouth militia he would often invite the Indians to parlay in truce and then kill them, as if for sport.’

Joseph Bolton’s tribute to his ancestor continues. ‘Roger Conant’s courageous stand successfully defused the situation. In doing so, he set the example of settling political disputes with patience, peace, cooperation and non-violence.

‘Much was uncertain in the English colonies of North America in the early days of the 17th century. Would they survive? If they did survive, how would they be governed? Would they fall into tyranny and fanaticism? It was no sure thing but the roots of the best of what became the United States have their beginnings with courageous and farsighted men and women like Roger Conant. He gave the fledgling country to be the sturdy foundation of Patience, Humility, Tolerance, Compromise and Civil Discourse. His spirit lives on today in our democracy’.   

Source: https://augustinesalley.wordpress.com/