Description:
Silhouettes were the most expedient and inexpensive form of portraiture available to New Englanders in the early 19th century. Profiles were so cheap, costing about ten cents apiece, that an artist's profit was dependent on making them as quickly as possible. Half-length portrait with a hollow-cut silhouette face of Amanda Amsden (1781-1860) of Ashfield, Massachusetts, which came in its original black-painted frame decorated with gold foliate sprays. In its only reference to Amanda Amsden (1781-1860), "The History of the Town of Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, from its Settlement in 1742-1910" notes that "Miss Amanda Smith and others lived in the house owned by the Smiths." Amanda Amsden was probably one of the daughters of Asahel Amsden (1741-1797), who had been born in Deerfield and moved to Ashfield, and Mary Ward Amsden (1745-1802) who married in 1768. It is probable that Amanda never married, and later lived with her niece, Jerusha Montague (1797-1835), the daughter of her older sister, Jerusha Amsden Montague (1773-1819) who married Ebenezer Montague (1768-1809) in 1793. Jerusha Montague married Justus Smith (1790-1846) of Ashfield in 1820, and named her daughter, Amanda (1821-1822). See also the morning embroidery (HD 2006.32.1) and sampler (HD 2006.32.2) made by Amanda Amsden. This silhouette came with silhouettes of Justus and Jurusha Smith (HD 2006.2) and a young man (HD 2006.3).
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2006.34.1 |
