John Alden's Letter

Turner’s painting was selected to hang in the Fine Arts Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition where it was listed for sale in the catalogue for $1200. The nostalgic subject matter was inspired by a poem published in 1858 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Courtship of Miles Standish. The story revolves around a love triangle between three Mayflower Pilgrims: Miles Standish, John Alden, and Priscilla Mullens. Longfellow was a descendant of the Mayflower Pilgrims, and he maintained the story was true.

The painting focuses on the early stanzas of the poem, when Miles Standish commissions his Deputy John Alden to write a marriage proposal to the Puritan Maiden Priscilla Mullens. Unfortunately for Standish, Priscilla rejects him, and falls in love with his handsome young Deputy Alden! Turner has painted a convincing colonial-era room equipped with period furniture. The woman in question, Priscilla, is not present. Rather, she is embodied in the encounter between Standish and Alden.  The gentlemen wear traditional pilgrim clothing, lending nostalgic flavor to the scene. A leaded-glass window is ajar, revealing the sea and a distant ship, likely a reference to the Mayflower.

Charles Yardley Turner possessed multifaceted artistic talent. He was a photographic finisher, a muralist, easel painter, lithographer, and even an architect. He attended Quaker schools in Baltimore as a child and went on to graduate from the Maryland Institute College of Art. In 1870 he studied at the New York National Academy of Design for three years, winning a bronze medal and prize money that allowed him passage to Paris. There he studied art under French masters including Jean-Paul Laurens, Mihály Munkácsy, and Léon Bonnat.

Turner painted murals for the World’s Columbian Exposition and served as the Assistant Director of decoration. In 1912 he returned to his alma mater, the Maryland Institute College of Art to become Director and remained in this position until his death. Other important historical commissions include the mural honoring the Opening of the Erie Canal, 1905, for the DeWitt Clinton High School; the mural at the Wisconsin State Capitol depicting Wisconsin History—including The Stagecoach, 1915; and the mural of The Burning of Peggy Stewart at the Baltimore Courthouse, 1904.