Attributed to Harriet Webster (American, 1785-1807) Mourning Picture, c. 1805.

Description:

Attributed to Harriet Webster (American, 1785-1807)

Mourning Picture, c. 1805. Unsigned. Watercolor and ink on paper depicting two grieving young women, one standing beside an urn-topped monument inscribed "Affectionately inscribed to the Memory / of Dea. T. WEBSTER / Obt Feb 12 1804 Age 47 Yrs.," the other woman is depicted kneeling beside a pyramidal monument inscribed "Sacred to the memory of / Mrs. S. WEBSTER / Obt Dec. 6 1799 / Aged 63 Yrs.," with two weeping willow trees in the background and foliage in the foreground, sight size 15 1/4 x 13 7/8 in., in an eglomise mat and giltwood frame. Condition: Creases and related unobtrusive repaired tears, minor retouch.

Note: Harriet Webster, the presumed artist of this painting, was the granddaughter of Deacon and Sarah Webster and was a significant figure in schoolgirl education in early Massachusetts. Essex County Massachusetts probate records indicate Deacon Thomas Webster was born December 2, 1726 in Bradford, Massachusetts, and died February 12, 1804. He was 78 at the time of his death, not 47, as the watercolor indicates. (The awkwardness of the "4" on his tomb suggests that his age may have been altered by another hand at a later date). Deacon Webster married his second wife, Sarah Kimball, on November 17th, 1748. Their son Samuel was the father of Harriet Webster, and was also one of the founders of Bradford Academy where this watercolor is thought to have originated. Harriet Webster was the third preceptress at Bradford Academy and as such probably taught there.

Interestingly, the style of this watercolor is closely tied to needlework produced at nearby Byfield Academy, founded in the spring of 1807. It is hardly coincidental. Betty Ring in Girlhood Embroideries states that "[the female] teachers [at Byfield the first year] were mostly young women who had belonged to the first class at Bradford Academy when it opened in 1803." As preceptress at Bradford from 1805-06, Harriet Webster would have been their teacher.

The relationship between this watercolor and needlework from the Byfield school is evident in numerous stylistic elements. According to Betty Ring, the most recognizable details of the school are the starfish-shaped leaves on the ground, the solid mass of diamond-shaped leaves on the weeping willow trees, and a small repertoire of stylized monuments and figures--elements all present in Harriet's watercolor.

Examples of memorial pieces embroidered at Byfield include one by Catherine Pearson, dated 1807, and sold at Northeast Auctions in 1989; and another almost identical to it, worked in 1808 by Amelia Parish. The latter is pictured in Girlhood Embroideries, p.121.

Literature: Pond, Jean S.,Bradford, A New England Academy, (Bradford Academy Alumnae Association, 1930),p.70; Ring, Betty, Girlhood Embroidery Volume I, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993),p. 120-129.
Estimate $2,500-3,500

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