A Gallery Of The Dearly Departed
THE HAUNTING
Twelve sitters posed for their likeness. Only some of them stayed inside the frame. Bring your cursor close and watch who leaves.
The West Wing Wall
Hung salon-style, floor to cornice, in the order the estate received them.
Each portrait was painted from life. What answers to your nearness was not.
Provenance
How the collection came to be, and why it is never lent.
The Marrowmere estate commissioned these likenesses across three long winters, one sitter at a time, always by candle and always in the same north-facing room.
The painter, a Mr. Alcott whose first name no record keeps, insisted the drapes stay drawn and the gas turned low. He claimed the light of day flattered the living and forgot the rest. Nine canvases survive intact. The tenth is a scorch mark. We do not speak of the eleventh.
Since 1871 the wall has hung undisturbed. Restorers who came to clean the varnish reported the same complaint: that the sitters seemed to move when observed from the corner of the eye, and to hold perfectly still the moment one turned to look.
The Sitters' Ledger
Names as they were entered in the estate book, and their standing as of the last inventory.
Visiting The Wall
The estate opens its doors on the terms below. They are not negotiable.
Hours of Admission
When the House Wakes
- Monday — ThursdayDusk until the last candle
- FridaySundown · by lantern only
- SaturdayThe full night through
- SundayThe wall rests. So should you.
- All Hallows' EveThey decide who enters
House Rules
Conduct in the Gallery
"Look long, and they look back. Look kindly, and most of them will let you leave."
Ask, and the Wall Will Answer
Knock three times upon the frame and the sitters confer. Their reply, letter by letter, in the old gallery tongue.