Samuel Folwell and Ann Elizabeth Gebler Folwell's School
Mourning Embroidery Depicting Liberty Weeping at the Tomb of Washington
1800-1805
Scroll
- Artist: Samuel Folwell
- School: Ann Elizabeth Gebler Folwell’s School
Mourning Embroidery Depicting Liberty Weeping at the Tomb of Washington
1800-1805
Physical Qualities
Silk ground, silk embroidery threads, paint, ink, and paper, 14 3/4 x 17 in. (37.5 x 43.2 cm.)
Credit Line
Purchased as the gift of the Friends of the American Wing in Memory of William Voss Elder, III, Curator of Decorative Arts, 1963-1997
Object Number
2015.367
This embroidery depicting Liberty weeping at a tomb inscribed, "Sacred to the Memory of the Illustrious Washington, Ever shall we mourn thy LOSS," is typical of those worked by students at Ann Elizabeth Folwell's school in Philadelphia. Ann's artist-husband Samuel Folwell created the designs and painted in the figures and backgrounds. The girls performed the embroidery under the tutelage of teachers well versed in the needle arts. Parents paid extra fees for this instruction and also for the gilded frame and glass mat in which their daughter's embroidery was displayed.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2015. ex. coll Jeanne Elder Moore, ex. coll. William Voss Elder III
'Maryland: First Catholic Colony' The Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD Oct. 12, 1990 - Jan. 27, 1991.
Hunt Valley Antiques Show, Hunt Valley Inn, Hunt Valley, MD 'Exhibition of painted furniture in conjunction with the Hunt Valley Antiques Show,' February 22 - February 25, 1996.
Homewood House Museum, Baltimore, 'Needles and Threads: Women's Handiwork, Men's Craftmanship,' September 6, 2001 - November 25, 2001.
Anita Jones, BMA, 'The Accomplished Stitch: American Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the Collection,' 5/11-7/20/97, no. 21 on checklist.
Anita Jones, Baltimore, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Jean and Allan Berman Textile Gallery, "Mournful Maidens: Love and Loss in American Embroidery," (September 9, 2009-February 21, 2010), no catalog.
Hunt Valley Antiques Show, Hunt Valley Inn, Hunt Valley, MD 'Exhibition of painted furniture in conjunction with the Hunt Valley Antiques Show,' February 22 - February 25, 1996.
Homewood House Museum, Baltimore, 'Needles and Threads: Women's Handiwork, Men's Craftmanship,' September 6, 2001 - November 25, 2001.
Anita Jones, BMA, 'The Accomplished Stitch: American Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the Collection,' 5/11-7/20/97, no. 21 on checklist.
Anita Jones, Baltimore, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Jean and Allan Berman Textile Gallery, "Mournful Maidens: Love and Loss in American Embroidery," (September 9, 2009-February 21, 2010), no catalog.
'Mournful Maidens,' "BMA Today," Fall-Winter 2009, pp. 11, ill.
Inscribed: Written in ink by hand on the monument: Ever/ shall we mourn/ thy/ LOSS" "SACRED /TO THE MEMORY OF/ THE ILLUSTRIOUS/ WASHINGTON."
