Description:
Theorem painting on velvet based on the Gospel of John 4: 4-42 describing Christ sitting by a well and asking for a drink of water from a woman of Samaria. A young artist, possibly a Massachusetts or Connecticut schoolgirl, painted this image with watercolor on velvet, using stencils for the large color blocks and adding free-hand details in ink. Practitioners developed theorem paintings (sometimes refered to as “Poonah,” “Velvet,” or “Chinese” paintings) by cutting multiple stencils and sequentially layering them, dabbing watercolor paint with a brush or perhaps a rag through each layer to develop the design, separate colors and prevent wet areas from bleeding. Theorem painting’s appeal lay in the minimal effort required to produce an image of maximum color saturation and visual impact. Stencils could be reused to create multiple examples of the same image. Students and adult hobbyists alike developed their own designs and copied designs from prints, choosing floral arrangements and still-lifes as the most popular subjects. The genre was not without its critics. In 1840, female academy teacher and textbook author, Mrs. Almira Lincoln Phelps, advised young women in her book, "The Fireside Friend, or Female Student: Being Advice to Young Ladies:" "Velvet, Chinese Painting, & c., are methods, by which handsome pictures are made; but they are almost wholly mechanical operations, and neither afford evidence of genius. Nor have they a tendency to refine and elevate the taste, like most other departments of the art." For Phelps, theorem painting smacked of debased factory work, and was one step removed from the industrial process using stencils to decorate furniture and other household goods. A private collector acquired a purportedly nearly identical example in Connecticut.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2001.44 |
