Description:
Mourning picture done in silk embroidery and gouache with the inscription, "Sacred / to the Memory / of / Henry and Betsey Pigeon." by Jane Pigeon (1793-1842), one of five children of Henry (d.1799) and Betsey Pigeon of Weston, Massachusetts. The Reverend Samuel Kendall (1753-1814) became the children's guardian in 1805, and sent Jane to Deerfield Academy in the fall of 1807, and from April to the end of July in 1808. She became a Preceptress at Deerfield Academy in 1826, was an assistant teacher of drawing, painting and ornamental needlework at the Greenfield High School of Young Ladies from 1828-1829. The small circular piece of silk with the inscription with the names of Henry and Betsey was glued in place after the piece was worked. Although the records of the Miss Pattens' School in Hartford have not revealed it, there is a strong possibility that Jane may have studied there when this piece was made. The two urns have been taken directly from a popluar pattern book, "Zeichen-Mahler-und Stickerbuch zer Selbstbelehrung fur Damen (Self-Study Book of Drawing, Painting, and Embroidery for Ladies), whihc was created by the German artist, Johann Friederich Netto (active 1795-1809), and published by Voss und Compagnie, Leipzig, 1798. Widely distributed in England and America, this book was highly influential, and many of the motifs found in silk embroideries of the early America federal period can be traced to this source.
Tags:
mourning Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+90.103 |
