John Ward Dunsmore (1856-1945)
The First Gentleman of Virginia: George Washington at the Hunt (c. 1777)
Frances Tavern Museum, New York City
Information on the painting is on page 20 of:
Images of America: Woodbrook Hunt Club
Joy Keniston-Longrie
Arcadia Publishing, 2009
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Jessica Fletcher, the astute observer of human (and it seems, animal) behavior in Murder, She Wrote is on a Virginia estate solving the problem of the murdered estate owner Denton Langley in the episode It's a Dog's Life. The wealthy Langley leaves his estate to his dog Teddy, causing a lot of disappointment amongst his relatives, including the one who murdered him in the hopes of getting the spoils of his death. Teddy gets called a murderer (of his beloved master) by these greedy relatives, in order to disown him of the inheritance, and to claim it for themselves. It is up to Jessica to show that Teddy in as innocent as, well, a dog.
Here is the synopsis of the episode.
What was interesting was the foxhunt that took place during the program. Jessica usually carries out her special art of investigative activity in a charming Massachussets coastal town called Cabot's Cove. For this one, she travels to Virginia to visit a friend at Langley's estate. Foxhunting is apparently still practiced in the United States.
Jessica joins the crowd in her own charming version of a foxhunt attire:
Standard attire is:
[D]uring the formal hunt season (usually around late October to late March in the northern hemisphere)...hunt members [wear] 'colours'. This attire usually consists of the traditional red coats worn by huntsmen, masters, former masters, whippers-in (regardless of sex), other hunt staff members and male members who have been invited to wear colours as a mark of honour. Since the Hunting Act in England and Wales, only Masters and Hunt Servants tend to wear red coats or the hunt livery whilst out hunting. Gentleman subscribers tend to wear black coats, with or without hunt buttons. Ladies generally wear coloured collars on their black or navy coats. These help them stand out from the rest of the field.Teddy, the dog is probably an American Foxhound, which was bred by George Washington, although he looks a little too small to be an American Foxhound (here are dimensions for the American Foxhound and here for the English Foxhound), since he was easily carried around by the various protagonists of the murderous show.
Teddy
Is this the face of a sleuth? Actually, it is the face of an intelligent and observant woman, with a sense of humor
Jessica Fletcher, who would rather be writing
her books than solving murders.
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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