Collection: Everything Else

The works of two other girls from Walpole were made at Misses Pattens' School in Hartford, Connecticut in the first decades of the nineteenth century. One of those students was Eliza's sister Louisa. Louisa married William G. Field in 1816, and he was the preceptor of the Walpole Academy in 1825. Stylistically Eliza's work is done in the manner of the Misses Pattens' School, although it is possible that whe was a pupil of her older sister, who may have taught painting and needlework, in Walpole.

Both for its choice of subject matter and for the quality of its workmanship, this is a particularly wonderful example of this schoolgirl art form. Its subject, Queen Blanche of Castile (1188-1252), became the queen consort of France as the wife of Louis VIII, and she was twice regent for her son Louis IX during his reign. She is remembered and held in esteem as an example of strong ethical character for, among other actions, the scene portrayed in this work. It was described by Margaret Labarge in her book "A Midieval Miscellany", as following Blanche's presiding over a dispute in the king's court, in a time of increasing anti-Semitism in France, during which she promised Rabbi Rehiel, who spoke for the Jews of Paris that he and his goods were safely under her protection. In the painting by Eliza, Blanche oversees the release of the captive Jews.

The royal guards wear costumes embroidered in gold thread and sequins. Also the perimeter of the scenic panel is embroidered in silver thread. The rest of the picture is superbly painted in watercolor on silk and framed behind an eglomise glass inscribed with the name of the scene and the name of its artist and her age. The surrounding floral garland with entwined cornucopia at its base, the town painted to the right in the scene background, and the placement of the foreground building and trees on either side of the central figures, mirror  compositional devices seen in Pattens' School work.

Sight dimensions are 25 1/2 x 25 1/2, and original gilded frame with rope twist decoration is 29 1/2 x 29 1/2 inches.

Like other examples of samplers by students of East Goshen schoolmistress Elizabeth Passmore, whose name appears on this piece, the composition is centered by a poetic passage entitled "Extract" above which Mary Ann stitched the names of the members of her family. A centrally placed willow tree surmounts a blue field filled with grazing sheep, a large spotted rabbit, and flowers, all within a meandering floral-vine border.

Mary Ann was born on February 10, 1809 and died on December 11, 1869, one of nine children of Jesse Sharpless and Ann Harvey.

The ribbon border with corner rosettes entirely surrounds the work and is in fine condition. It has a border edging not usually seen on these works, and, although it clearly has been on the work for most of its life, it may have been applied when the work was first framed at a slightly later date. The piece is now conservation mounted on linen and set back from the glass within a modern frame.

Related examples made by students of Passmore can be found in "Girlhood Embroidery" by Betty Ring, p. 401; "A Gallery of American Samplers: The Theodore Kapnek Collection" by Glee Krueger, p. 56: and "The Joan Stephens Collection: Important Samplers and Pictorial Needlework", Sotheby's January 19, 1997, number 2098.

Sight dimensions are 26 1/4 inches wide and 23 inches high, and framed dimensions are 29 1/4 inches wide and 26 inches high.

This work, a memorial made in honor of Mrs. Jennet Mitchell, the wife of Mr. Cushing Mitchell, who died on February 25, 1774, when she was 26 years old. The plinth bears the inscription that "Life is long, which answers life's great end". Standing to the left of the plinth under a weeping willow tree are four mourners, a husband and three children. To the right of the willow tree, a graveyard bears stones which memorialize earlier members of the family. The church behind the graveyard is architecturally detailed and carefully constructed and appropriate to the era. In remarkably good condition, particularly for its age. 17 1/2" x 13 1/4"

A watercolor on paper memorial..
In memory of Mr. Abijah Warren who died September 19, 1824, age 70
in memory of Mrs. Rebekkah Warren who died March 2nd 1791 age 34 years.
The back inscribed 'In memory of Mrs. Rebecca Whitney, wife of Levi Whitney who died July 9th, 1835, aged 51 years and 3 months.An exceptional example of Maine schoolgirl watercolor painting. This example, covers two generations of memorial art. Its 'stitchwork' details the arrangement of leaves bent down upon the plinth from the tree above, In the churchyard are more trees, burial vaults, and gravestones-two marked for the man and woman memorialized on the plinth. Multiple church buildings are reached through stairs leaving the graveyard and rising up into the circular entrance to the nave. The rare circular steeple has a rounded dome. In remarkably good condition, the detail is exemplary. In a bird's-eye maple frame with gilded liner and raised corner blocks.

A MEMORIAL OF TWO FIGURES AND AN ANGEL STANDING BENEATH A WILLOW TREE IN A CEMETERY A watercolor memorial on paper of two figures, a woman and an angel, leaning on their plinths and urn beneath a willow tree with a graveyard of stones in the background, and a white church with five-storied steeple. In memory of Edwin and William Jones, c.1820. Paper condition excellent, reverse- painted glass is worn outside the oval. Found in Upstate NY. 18" x 20 1/2" framed dimensions.

A watercolor on velvet theorem filled with fruit in an open weave basket and with a bird and butterfly. C.1830. 17 1/2" x 18 1/2" frame size.

Gramples
A calligraphic drawing with internally-framed homilies. Drawn by Araunah Judd. Coventry, March 1822. Two small watercolor portraits decorate the upper corners. 16 1/2" x 19" frame size. Exhibited Bowdoin College Museum of Art 1986

Mark Catesby (1683-1749)
A botanical print by the artist who was trained in the natural sciences. Trained in England, he spent seven years in Carolina before returning to England. In 1722, he again returned to Carolina to pursue his interest in both animal and botanical subjects seen in combination is works such as this. Mark Catesby (1683-1749)

A BLACK AND WHITE MEMORIAL BY SARAH HENSHAW An unusual black and white needlework memorial made by Sarah Henshaw in 1842. 17 1/2" x 21"

A theorem on velvet of leaves and a basket filled with fruit including a large bunch of grapes.  C. 1825.  17"  x 14 3/4".

A game board reverse-painted on glass with barber pole green and gold decoration and with stars in the corners. Green, rose, gold, and black in color. C. 1860. 19 1/2" x 191/2".

Designed with multiple Masonic images, including a compass, sun, enclosed in a laurel wreath.

A small flat dish with a flange-style rim, glazed in colors that range from tan to gray-green with a reddish edge and decorated with abstract drawing of fish, whimsical in nature. Circa 1950, New Hampshire. 5 1/4" wide x 1" high.

Embroidered in yellow, beige, and red. The decoration features a woven basket of flowers design, and two concentric circles of vines with flowers which enclose the basket. The piece dates circa 1820. It is in good condition and measures 67 inches wide and it is 78 inches tall. It is composed of two panels which are joined slightly off the center of the work. New England origin.

The floral and flower/sunburst designs echo the motifs of earlier bed rugs, while at the same time showing the organization and pattern variations of an album quilt. The ground is woven with a grid-like pattern of 64 squares in two tones of ivory, and the squares are themselves placed within embroidered circles. The designs vary between squares but all maintain an abstracted flower motif. Its heavy original fringe borders the piece on three sides, and the artist's initials EMS adorn the upper or head edge of the blanket.
Mounted on a neutral fabric ground over a folding stretcher. 84 1/2 inches wide by 88 1/2 inches high.
Descended in the family which is from Middletown Springs, Vermont.

The Reverend Wm. Green, originally from Centerville, New York, abandoned his wife there and went to Cornwall, CT. He was an itinerant Methodist minister, and there he met and married a young widow with property. He also worked for P.T. Barnum when he ran for Congress and in a general store for his second wife's brother. His second wife died under suspicious circumstances, and after three trials Green was convicted of her murder and sentenced to the state prison for life and died there.

While there, Mr. Green went into an ornamental painting and illuminating business, and his work is beautifully decorative- highly colorful and quite charming. In addition to this piece, there is a similar example in the collection of the Litchfield Historical Society.

Drawn in red, blue and black ink (now brown) and showing one female figure, a large compass star, and decorative elements seen in other known examples of his work.
Sight size is 12 inches high and 8 inches wide. Conservation framed in a period frame measuring 16 by 11 inches.