Description:
Watercolor drawing of flowers and leaves in pinks, greens and brown on off-white, wove paper and inscribed "Arabella S. Sheldon" in brown ink on the reverse, and the handwritten inscription in pencil "By Arabella S. Sheldon / 1812-1874" in the lower left corner of the backing paper (see data file). Arabella S. Sheldon (1812-1874) was the daughter of Seth Sheldon (1787-1860) and Caroline Stebbins Sheldon (1789-1865) of Deerfield, who lived in the Sheldon House until her marriage to Henry Wells of Shelburne, Massachusetts in 1843. Arabella attended Deerfield Academy for a term in 1826 at age 14. She probably drew and painted this picture, reminiscent of floral designs embroidered on household textiles such as bed hangings, at a young age. PVMA has a shirred rug depicting her girlhood home in Deerfield that she made in 1842, a year before she married Henry Wells and moved to Shelburne, which demonstrated her continued development of needle skills and an artistic eye well into adulthood.
Subjects:
Watercolor painting Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+95.022 |
