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Sampler
Clarissa Emerson (Lancaster, Massachusetts, United States)
1822/23
- Medium
- Linen, plain weave; embroidered with silk in cross, satin, stem, long and short, chain, upright Gobelin, oblique Gobelin, and feather stitches; laid work and couching; painted
- Classification
- Textile
- Dimensions
- 55.3 × 42 cm (21 3/4 × 16 1/2 in.)
- Culture
- Massachusetts
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Textiles
- Credit line
- James D. Tigerman Estate; Margaret W. and John V. Farwell III Endowment Fund; Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
The careful planning and attention to detail of this sampler are apparent in the execution of the naturalistically rendered flowers and two figures in period dress. The underdrawing was prepared by a teacher, while the painted faces of the figures were either executed by the teacher or the maker. This is an excellent example of a piece that was executed under the direction of a private teacher or in an academy. Clarissa Emerson (1808–?) was the youngest of 12 children born to Elias (1759–1835) and Phebe Hayward Emerson (1768 [?]–1840), who were married in 1790 in Reading, Massachusetts. Elias served in the Revolutionary War, obtaining the rank of lieutenant, and he is descended from the 1636 Emerson settlers of Ipswich, Massachusetts. The verse is attributed to the hymn writer John Newton (1725–1807) or Isaac Watts (1674–1748).
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
