Needlework mourning picture depicting a man and woman framed by trees with a white church in the distance, standing to the right of a memorial plinth and urn. The woman is pointing to an inked inscription on the memorial. Mary Clark worked this picture at the request of her father as a memorial to her younger brother. She used silk floss on a silk ground, with watercolor delineated hands and faces. The stitches Mary used in her picture include: satin, long and short satin, and French knots. The work is covered by an octagonally-shaped, reverse painted (eglomise) glass mat, with a gilt frame.
needlework (visual works)
funerary art
embroidering
paintings (visual works)
silk (textile)
Picture, Needlework
Mary Paddock Clark (b. 1791 d. 1877) was the eldest daughter of Brewster, MA merchant Isaac Clark and Temperance Sears. Mary worked this memorial for her younger brother when she was fifteen. It relates to at least two other memorial pictures.
""Inscribed/to the memory of Strabo/Clark, son of Isaac Clark/Esqr. & Mrs. Temperance/Clark who died June/29th 1799 AE 8 mo. & 13 days/ sleep on, sleep on, sweet babe/& rest/T'was God that call'd he/ saw it best."" ""Mary Clark"" (handwritten)
"MARY CLARK" (printed in gold in reverse on the glass)
Clark, Mary (Embroiderer)
Sandwich, Massachusetts
20 7/8 x 21 1/16 (HxW) (inches)
Gift from Mary Ann Wing Bangs
1930.1125
Massachusetts (United States)
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