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Needlework - "The Cottage Girl"

2024-18-2

Silk embroidery and watercolor scene showing a young woman gathering branches in a pastoral setting. The woman wears an ankle-length dress executed in blue and white silk thread; in her right hand is a basket. To her right are three trees, two executed in couched brown and black chenille (similar to other Litchfield Female Academy needlework); the third trees, as well as some of the foliage, are done in French knots. To her left is a cottage with a solid board fence stretching into the distance, executed largely in laid stitches. In the far background is a stream with arched bridge. The woman's face and hair are executed in watercolor and ink, with pencil lines visible. Center medallion is topped with an embroidered floral swag with blue silk bow at center and each end; underneath the medallion are smaller floral clusters in each corner. Embroidery executed in satin, straight, laid, seeding, and other stitches. Framed under glass eglomise, black with gold inner border. Giltwood frame with spiral molding around interior. Two handwritten notes encapsulated and placed on frame reverse, along with rear window to expose pasted framer's label for Spencer & Gilman, Hartford, Connecticut.

One of three versions of "The Cottage Girl" made at Sarah Pierce's Litchfield Female Academy. The example worked by Cyrinthia S. Smith is also in the LHS collection (1989-01-1); the version by Nancy Hale is in the collection of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. All three are likely based on an aquatint of the same name by J. Le Petit (see 1992-18-03).

This piece has previously been dated to 1793. A handwritten note (removed from reverse of frame) states that it was worked by Ruth Atwater “while she was in boarding school in Litchfield, Conn. in 1793, when she was 14 or 15 years of age.” Given that the same note lists her birth year as 1788, the writer either misidentified her LFA attendance date or incorrectly assumed the embroidery was done while she attended the school. Ruth’s birth year of 1788 is confirmed by other genealogical sources. It is possible that the 1793 date assigned to her attendance is based on a mistake made on the handwritten note. An attendance date of 1803 (based on the note indicating she was 14 of 15 years of age when she attended) not only makes sense given the typical age of students who completed embroideries at the Academy, but also means that Ruth would be completing her version around the same time as both Hale and Smith (and possibly have the aquatint available at the school for reference).

• Cooke, Ruth Atwater (1788-1877)

c.1803

Overall length (framed) 23.125", width 20"

• ink
• watercolor
• silk