Description:
Mourning picture done in silk embroidery and gouache by Eliza Ely while a student at the Abby Wright school in South Hadley, Massachusetts, which has written in ink "Saybrook/ No. 1" at the lower left and "Eliza Ely 1807 [or 9"] at the bottom beyond the oval cartouche. The oval scene depicts two mourners, a man and a woman, against a blank monument, in a landscape setting, with a tree broken on the left-hand side, symbolizing death or loss. The figures and sky are painted; the trees and landscape are embroidered with gree and brown thread in long floating stitches and tiny single stitches. The measurement of the decorative part of this piece, in off-white silk satin, is 16 1/2" x 14 1/4". On all four sides are stitched "extensions" of unbleached linen (not visible when framed) that wrap around the wooden stretcher/strainer and are nailed. Born in Wethersfield, Connecticut and raised in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Abby Wright (1774-1842) attended Westfield Academy in 1800-180, and opened her own school in South Hadley in 1803. By 1804, she was such a success that is was difficult to find housing for all her students. Her teaching ended when she married Peter Allen (1764-1848) in 1809; her half-sister, Sophia Goodrich, took over the school, which appears to have continued at least through 1811. Insitutions like Wright's taught girls accomplishments like needlework in preparation for their future roles as wives and mothers. Historic Deerfield owns another, similar mourning embroidery done by Elizabeth Ely (HD 2003.8), also while she was a student at the Wright school. This is probably Eliza Maria Ely (1794-1836) the daughter of Doctor Richard Ely (1765-1816) of Saybrook, Connecticut, and Eunice Bliss originally of Wilbraham, Massachusetts, and the grandaughter of Rev. Richard Ely (1733-1814) of Saybrook and Jerusha Sheldon (1737-1797), the daughter of Benjamin Sheldon of Northampton, Massachusetts. Before attending the Abby Wright school, Eliza attended Miss Sarah Pierce's Litchfield Female Academy in 1806 and 1807. At the Litchfield school is perhaps where Ely learned more basic, counted thread embroidery before undertaking a more ambitious mourning picture. Eliza Ely married a cousin Elihu Ely, M.D. (1780-1851), and they moved to Birmingham, NY. In both examples, the painted figures are very similar, especially the women's faces and dress (the latter varies in hair/hat styles and neck/fichu covering). It is rare to find two such similar mourning pieces wrought by the same student, and gives some indication of output at a school teaching needlework to girls in the Connecticut River Valley. In this example, the design was probably roughly sketched first on the satin, and then, the sky was painted. The embroidery was then tackled and finished by the painting of the sitters. The black paint used on the clothing is crackling, particularly in the man's coat and boots, and the woman's dress.The Smithsonian Institution has a 1809 embroidery from South Hadley with a nearly identical frame.
Tags:
mourning Link to share this object record:
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