Collections record Beta

Needlework - Pastoral Scene

2011-163-1

Painted silk needlework pictures worked by Maryann Bacon (Mary Bacon). The silk pictures has a rectangular format with a central medallion depicting a pastoral scene with three figures at leisure in a lush landscape. The young man pictures is playing a small flute while two shepherdesses and their dog look on. The central medallion is bordered with a silver metallic framework of laid and couched yarns. At the top of the cartouche, a large embroidered silk blossom is surrounded by a bow of the same silver yarns. The remainder of the picture is decorated with silk embroidered swags of flowers above and with a half-garland of acorn-laden oak branches below. The embroidered cross-hatched acorn caps are an indication of Mary's skill with the needle. The picture is bordered on four sides by linen tacking edges to which it is hand stitched. These were probably originally used to lace the picture into an embroiderer's frame while it was worked. The linen strips are currently stretched over a wooden strained and tacked along the side edges with large headed iron tacks. The picture is framed behind its original glazing which is an eglomise mat with gilded inscription. The rectangular mat is edged with two gold lines. The bottom of the mat is inscribed in upper case gold lettering with the artist's name: "MARY BACON". The frame is a wooden deep cove molding with gesso and gilded finish. The inner liner is decorated with a lamb's tongue design and a twist fills the cove. The outer rail is decorated with leaves draped over the edge.

Maryann Bacon Whittlesey (Mary Bacon) was a student at the Litchfield Female Academy in 1802. Maryann kept a diary during her time attending school in Litchfield and from mid-July through mid-September of that year frequently notes working on an embroidery in her diary while at school in Litchfield, and also while at her home in Roxbury, CT.

• Whittlesey, Maryann Bacon, 1787-1869

1802

Frame: Height 27 1/4", Width 29 3/4"; Work: Height 23", Width 25 1/2"

• silk
• watercolor
• linen
• wood
• gesso
• gold
• glass
• paint