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Pen and wash drawing in old gilt frame with wooden backing. Central figure of a woman seated in a painted chair, holding a small pointer in her right hand. Two children, a boy standing behind a small girl, stand by her left shoulder. Small girl holds an alphabet book--woman and two children are looking at it. To the left of the woman, another seated girl is sewing. A Spaniel sits in the left foreground, facing the woman and children. Large draped curtain in upper left corner; right background wall has two framed prints and wallpaper border along chair rail. Pembroke table with basket underneath it to the right of figure group. Carpet has floral swags and geometric designs.
pictures (two-dimensional representations)
ink
wash technique
children (people by age group)
dolls
home (concept)
families
pets
Family
Pet
Doll
Child
Domesticity
Sewing
PICTURE
From Elegant Embellishments, "According to a label on the back, a young woman of seventeen painted this picture as a wedding present for a member of the Stickney family of Newburyport in 1823. Watercolor painting was considered a genteel accomplishment for young women and was a necessary part of the curriculum in female academies. A needlework picture of Boston are origin in the Colonial Williamsburg Collection depicts the same scene. An early nineteenth century English print probably served as the source for both of these examples of schoolgirl art."
Typed label on wood backing: ""BROWN FAMILY WASH DRAWING (underlined) The property of L.S. Waterman presented by F. E. Stickney; painted for Mrs. Stickney's wedding by a young friend (lady) aged seventeen years---1823 [The following is handwritten] From Brown fam. Spring Sr Newburyport""
Unknown
20 3/4 x 16 7/8 (HxW) (inches)
Gift of Nina Fletcher Little
1980.73
Sander, Penny. Elegant Embellishments. Boston; SPNEA; 1982.
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