Keeping up appearances at the Groton School

“The Tea Party’’ (oil on linen), from the series “Babes the Woods,’’ by Margaret Bowland, in her show “It Ain’t Necessarily So,’’ at the de Menil Gallery, at the Groton School, Groton, Mass., through Nov. 9. The gallery says that Ms. Bowland “creates realistic, detailed portraits of costumed or made-up women and girls. Bowland demonstrates how much women must change themselves in order to be conventionally attractive and appeal to others. At the same time, women try to express themselves through the makeup and costumes.’’

The Groton School (see picture below), founded in 1884 and in an affluent Boston exurb, was the alma matter of some famous people, most notably Franklin D. Roosevelt, and a symbol of New York-New England WASP “old money’’ families. Louis Auchincloss’s most famous novel, The Rector of Justin, is roughly based on Groton, which is affiliated with the Episcopal Church (natch!), and its formidable founding headmaster, The Rev. Endicott Peabody. Auchincloss graduated from Groton in 1935 and died in 2010.

Groton is also known for its beautiful old houses and its apple orchards.

The chapel at the Groton School.

Gibbet Hill, in the lovely Groton countryside.