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This round, silk mourning picture depicts nine mourners dressed in black huddle around a monument with urn on top. Several figures string a garland of roses on the front and side of the monument. One weeping willow on either side and a white classical revival house at the left.
needlework (visual works)
funerary art
embroidering
painting (coating)
silk (textile)
education
mourning
Silk
Embroidered
Painted
Mourning
Education
Picture, Needlework
When Windham County, Connecticut, sheriff Shubael Abbe died in 1804, one of his daughters, most likely Betsey, his youngest, illustrated her family's loss in silk embroidery and watercolor. Sixteen years old and a student at one of the best schools in the region, Betsey depicted her mother, brothers, and sisters mourning at his grave.
Curator's Note:This needlework is nearly identical to one worked by Mary Treadwell for her sister Lucy Jerome. See Betty Ring, Girlhood Embroideries, Vol. 1 p. 216. Mary Treadwell and Betsey Abbe were most likely classmates.
""In/memory/of A Father/SHUBAEL ABBE/ob April 16th 1804/AE 39 years"" (Painted)
Attributed to Abbe, Betsey, 1788-1809 (Maker)
Lydia Royce School (Inscriber)
Hartford, Connecticut
20 x 20 (HxW) (inches)
Gift of Mrs. Huntly H. Gilbert
1963.341
Connecticut (United States)
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