Captain Colby House
About This Tour
Explore the well-preserved murals in the stair hall and see motifs attributed to Rufus Porter. As you move between floors, you will discover a layout common in Porter School murals — a water scene on the first floor and a landscape scene on the second. A tall tree on the stairway ties the two scenes together.
The Captain Colby House is a half-house with a three-bay facade and an ell. The house has undergone several campaigns of alterations.
The Captain Colby House
The Captain Abraham Colby House was built in 1809 in what is now Amesbury, Massachusetts. Abraham Colby (1785-1865) worked in shipping along the New England coast, at one point serving as master aboard the sloop Priscilla that transported lumber from Augusta, Maine to Newburyport, Massachusetts. It has also been recorded that Colby served as the President of Amesbury and Salisbury Savings Bank. This house was inherited by Colby’s only son, Samuel Smith Colby and was at some point sold to the Bartlett family, who owned it for most of the twentieth century. In a delightful twist of fate, the house’s owners since 2002 can trace their lineage back to the Colbys. The Captain
Colby House is listed in the Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System (or MACRIS) as the Capt. S. Colby House, most likely referring to Abraham’s son, Samuel.​
​
While the five-bay facade was the most common configuration for houses built at this time, the “half-house,” or three-bay facade was also used. These half-houses were often constructed with the hope of expansion in the future after a family’s economic success. The murals in the lower and upper stairways of the house were also added after the house’s initial construction — most likely in the 1830s — as a way to improve and update the interior.
About the Artist
The murals in the Captain Abraham Colby House were likely painted around the same time and by the same hand as a group of similarly painted murals in northeastern Massachusetts. This group of houses includes the Savery House in Groveland, the Ingalls-Colby House in Haverhill, the Damon Tavern in North Reading, and the Chadwick-Andrew House in West Boxford. These murals are attributed to itinerant artist and inventor, Rufus Porter (1782-1884). While Porter outlined his easily followed, formulaic approach to mural painting in writings for other painters (whose works are now considered part of the Porter School) there are aspects of these walls that point to Porter himself as the artist.
Each mural artist had a different way of painting trees. Rufus Porter typically painted airy elms, such as this one.
A waterfall similar to this one is found in several murals painted by Rufus Porter.
Note the hand-painted shading on the outlined sails and the red stripe across the body of the ship. Porter liked detail, yet no one is sailing this vessel.
While there are many motifs here that are common to Porter’s walls, one of the most important indicators of Porter’s hand is how the trees are painted. While most Porter School painters depict tall trees in the foreground, they are painted very differently depending on the artist. Porter depicted mostly elms and painted them in an artful and delicate manner. His trees are realistic, their branches fan out in a logical way, and the full foliage reveals bits of sky behind it.
Porter was quite skilled, as is evident in the fine detailing throughout this mural.
​
Another important element that gives insight into who painted this wall is the cultivated field on the second floor. This field in front of the village follows the directions Porter later outlined in his writings for other muralists. These appeared in the newspaper Scientific American — a publication that Porter also founded — in the July 1847 issue. Other than the cultivated field, Porter typically kept his hillsides clean of detail.
About the Art
This three-part building was painted using a stencil and is found in many of Rufus Porter’s murals.
This two-masted sloop is found in many Porter murals. It adds depth and dimension to the scene as it glides behind the island.
Stenciled horses running up a hill is a motif often found in Porter’s stairway murals.
A boat bearing the name ‘Albany’ steams behind the island. This particular ship is often found on Porter’s water walls.