Susanna M. Holland and Mrs. Ann Barclay Cloud's School
The year rolls round…
1815
Scroll
Physical Qualities
Linen ground, silk embroidery threads, 21 1/2 x 17 3/4 in. (54.6 x 45.1 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Francis White, from the Collection of Mrs. Miles White, Jr.
Object Number
1973.76.327
Few samplers better illustrate the charming naiveté and moralistic sentiments of 19th-century American schoolgirl embroideries than Susanna Holland’s. Its primitive landscape with butterflies and sheep, surrounded by an exuberant border of flowers, grapes, and pineapples,, belies its dismally fatalistic verse, What’er we do, whate’er we be, We’re travelling to the grave. The uncertainty of life was often the subject of American samplers, but in this case the words were prophetic. Recent scholarship suggests that Susanna was the daughter of Peter Holland (1777–1858) and Susanna Correll (1779–1817). Sadly, both Susanna Holland and her mother died within a year after she completed her needlework. Susanna’s teacher, Ann Barclay Cloud, influenced the design of her students’ samplers wherever she taught, first in Philadelphia, then Delaware, and
finally Maryland.
Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1973; Nancy Brewster (Mrs. Frances White) by inheritance; Virginia Purviance Bonsal (Mrs. Miles White, Jr.).
Anita Jones, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Lessons Learned: American Schoolgirl Embroideries," November 23, 2014-May 10, 2015.
BMA, 'The White Collection,' March 19-June 2, 1974, no catalogue.
Susan Cumins, BMA, 'Period Needlework in America 1739-1865,' 1978, no. 17; traveling exhibition circulated to Annapolis, Elkton, Salisbury, Columbia, Leonardtown, Stevenson, and Chestertown, Maryland.
Anita Jones, BMA, 'The Accomplished Stitch: American Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the Collection,' 5/11-7/20/97, no. 9. on unpublished checklist.
Gloria Seaman Allen (guest curator), The Maryland Historical Society: "Maryland Schoolgirl Samplers and Embroideries 1738-1860," April 15 - November 15, 2007.
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.
Anita Jones, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Lessons Learned: American Schoolgirl Embroideries," November 23, 2014-May 10, 2015.
BMA, 'The White Collection,' March 19-June 2, 1974, no catalogue.
Susan Cumins, BMA, 'Period Needlework in America 1739-1865,' 1978, no. 17; traveling exhibition circulated to Annapolis, Elkton, Salisbury, Columbia, Leonardtown, Stevenson, and Chestertown, Maryland.
Anita Jones, BMA, 'The Accomplished Stitch: American Samplers and Silk Embroideries from the Collection,' 5/11-7/20/97, no. 9. on unpublished checklist.
Gloria Seaman Allen (guest curator), The Maryland Historical Society: "Maryland Schoolgirl Samplers and Embroideries 1738-1860," April 15 - November 15, 2007.
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.
Anita Jones, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Lessons Learned: American Schoolgirl Embroideries," November 23, 2014-May 10, 2015.
Betty Ring, "Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850", New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993, Vol. II, p. 496, fig. 554.
Gloria Seaman Allen, "A Maryland Sampling: Girlhood Embroidery 1738-1860", Baltimore: The Press at the Maryland Historical Society, 2007, pp. 107-108, fig. 7-8, p. 107.
Gloria Seaman Allen and Susi B. Slocum, "Ann Barclay Cloud's Fruit and Forever Samplers," Sampler & Antique Needlework Quarterly, Spring 2007, vol. 46, pp.6-14, ill.
Andre, Linda, and Jessica Skwire Routhier, eds. The Baltimore Museum of Art: Celebrating A Museum. Baltimore, Maryland: Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014, ill. p. 86.
Baltimore Museum of Art." The Baltimore Museum of Art: Celebrating a Museum". Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014.
Inscribed: See Description for complete inscription. Embroidered signature and date: 'Susanna M Holland/ 1816'. Printed on label removed from reverse of the old frame during conservation: 'ESTABLISHED 1859./ David/Bendann's/FINE ART ROOMS./105 East Baltimore St./Baltimore./ Looking/ Glass AND Picture/ Frames/ Manufacturer/ B [inscribed in a circle]/ American/ Bank Note Co/ N.Y./ NUMBER'; Handwritten in ink on red and white paper label also removed from reverse of old frame: 'Mrs. White'
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