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Fragment of wallpaper affixed to paperboard with printed label "Wall Paper from Governor Gore House, Waltham, Massachusetts." Known as the "Devil Paper" or "Devils Paper", the wallpaper's pattern is influenced by the grotesque figures of French printmaker Jacques Callot (1592-1635). The pattern, block-printed in black on light cream ground, depicts numerous scenes of grotesque figures in silhouette. The figures have horns, claws, tails and carry knives, sticks, and whips. Most of the scenes depict physical violence. Photographic evidence indicates this fragment of wallpaper was previously framed and hung in the stairhall of Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
wallpapers
paper (fiber product)
block printing (relief printing process)
grotesques
Wallpaper
"Wall Paper from / Governor Gore House, Waltham, Massachusetts" (printed)
"Copy of work of / Jacques Callot / 1608 / Punishments / Sins of Man / This paper / circa 1805" (Written in pencil and ballpoint pen.)
Waterhouse, Dorothy S.
Original To Gore Place (Waltham, Mass.),
Unknown
France
14 3/8 x 10 1/2 (HxW) (inches)
Gift of Bernard Scott
2001.281.965
Waltham (Middlesex county, Massachusetts)
Gloucester (Essex county, Massachusetts)
France
Block Printed
wall fragment
Cream
Original
Machine Made
Sidewall/Fill
Paper
Devils
Demons
Grotesque
Novelty
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