Julia Ann Thomas and Easton Female Academy, MD
Caroline, the Heroine of Litchfield
1816
Scroll
- Maker: Julia Ann Thomas
- School or the Moravian schools at Bethlehem or Lititz, PA or Salem, NC: Easton Female Academy, MD
Caroline, the Heroine of Litchfield
1816
Physical Qualities
Silk ground, silk and silk chenille embroidery threads, paint, cotton lining, 17 x 17 in. (43.2 x 43.2 cm.)
Credit Line
Friends of the American Wing Fund; and partial gift of John S.H. Chapman, Towson, Maryland
Object Number
2002.178
Julia Ann Thomas’ silk embroidery depicts the title character of the novel Caroline of Litchfield: or Memoirs of a Prussian Family by Isabelle de Montolieu (1751–1832), first published in America in 1798. The novel’s heroine, repelled by her husband’s physical scars, at first rejects him but later comes to love him for his exemplary character. Young women in England and America embraced this new romantic literature that dealt with complex human emotions, and some, like Julia Ann Thomas, chose Caroline for their needlework. She included the word “Easton” on her embroidery, presumably referring to Easton, Maryland, where a woman named Julia Ann Thomas later taught at the Easton Female Academy. Elements of the design and stitching, however, are characteristic of work from the Moravian schools in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, where Julia may have attended, although no record of her has been found.
Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2002; John S.H. Chapman(1919-2008), Towson, MD by descent, 2004; Robert B. Chapman III (1918-2004) and Audrey Frank Chapman (1922-2019), Lutherville, MD by descent, 1974; Mary McCord Chapman (c.1890-1974), Baltimore, MD by descent; Cynthia J. Stevens (c.1889-1975).
Curator's Choice Rotation
Lessons Learned: American Schoolgirl Embroidery
Textiles American Needlework
Maine Antique Digest, "Extremely fine Maryland silk embroidery signed "Julia Ann Thomas Easton 1817" "with exceptional watercolor details depicting Caroline, the Heroine of Litchfield, " Section: Mid-Week in Manchester, August 7 and 8, 2002, in advertisement from M. Finkel & Daughter, Philadelphia, PA. , "America's Leading Antique Sampler and Needlework Dealer," p. 21-C.
Betty Ring, Childhood Embroidery: American Samplers and Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850, Vol. II, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993, pp. 414-444, esp. p. 438, fig. 489.
Walter Shaw Sparrow, "New Light on Morland," The Connoiseur, vol. 87, No. 354, pp. 71-78, esp. fig. no. VI - similar genre.
Walter Shaw Sparrow, "New Light on Morland," The Connoiseur, vol. 87, No. 354, pp. 71-78, esp. fig. no. VI - similar genre.
Inscribed: The silk embroidery is signed in script in black ink across bottom, 'Easton', 'JULIA . ANN', '18/17', 'THOMAS's', 'Work'.
School or the Moravian schools at Bethlehem or Lititz, PA or Salem, NC
Easton Female Academy, MD
2000–2000
Meet Easton Female Academy, MD
