A SILK AND WATERCOLOR-ON-SILK GEORGE WASHINGTON MEMORIAL NEEDLEWORK MOURNING PICTURE

The present needlework is attributed to the Misses Pattens' school in Hartford, Connecticut. Mourning pictures with neoclassical elements were a popular genre in the school. This work exhibits the school’s signature use of raised and padded metallic embroideries. It features popular elements seen in many examples including a metallic eagle and willow trees with drooping clumps. For further information and similar examples see Betty Ring, Girlhood Emroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850 (New York, 1993), pp. 202-209.