Description:
Framed watercolor and pencil picture depicting the story of Maria, based on Lawrence Sterne's (b.1713) novel "Sentimental Journey Through Italy and France," published in 1768. The specific story of Maria involves a woman who lost her senses, and consequently, the loss of her husband, who died of mental anguish over her mental illness. Sane enough to comprehend his absence, Maria wandered the countryside in perpetual grief. Both the story and the larger novel were read by all ages, including school girls, who adapted the story of Maria into needlework and drawings, like this example. The book's narrator the Rev. Yorick describes her as "She was sitting with her elbow in her lap, and her head leaning on one side within her hand," "a small brook ran at the foot of the tree," "she was dressed in white....except for her hair hung loose," and "she had got a little dog which she kept tied to her by a string to her girdle." This image shows a circular compostion of woman in the center of the image in a grecian style gown sitting on a grassy mound, at her feet is a cat, behind her are tall trees, to the right at two small men figures, a town of many buildings and in the upper right hand corner is a reserve of a woman with a basket and a cane near a tree. On the reverse of the frame are two labels, one is an auction label, "Northeast Auctions/ #610" and the second "#131 Primitive Watercolor/of a Lady from Berlin, MA/ Has cat litter People & scene/ of village/ Pam Boynton - 1999 -"
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2015.39 |
