Needlework Picture, 1747-1750
To begin, "Needlework Picture" is a Boston-made embroidery that colorfully depicts a lush green landscape. In the forefront are a young lady holding a fishing pole, a group of reapers, a promenading couple, and a mounted horseman. Around them are dogs, birds, and leaping deer. Made between 1747 and 1750, it is the largest of seventeen scenes called "fishing lady" pictures. It is worked in wool and silk with beads on linen canvas. Although its maker is unknown, the picture descended through the Lowell family and hung at James Russell Lowell's home, "Elmwood." The image of a young woman waiting to catch a fish while other couples are frolicking suggests a youthful maker and romantic fantasies (Historic New England).
Material Composition
"Needlework Picture" is an embroidered image that was made of wool and silk on a linen canvas in the mid-eighteenth century. Although embroidered images were not uncommon in the 18th century, the use of needlework in this way offers an intriguing window into the artifact's social history. There is a long history behind the association of women and needlework, with class playing a significant role; in the early modern period (between 1500 and 1800), women of humble means spun and wove cloth from necessity whereas women from affluent families had more leisure time and embroidering cloth became a means of advertising their social status (Klein 2001, p. 38). Thus, it is likely that it was a woman from higher status that was behind the fabrication of this piece. Often, embroidered images are considered to be the "capstone project" in an elite woman's education or for their role in the family's presentation of its gentility and fashionable taste (Pappas 2015, p. 2). The use of this medium suggests that the work was meant to exhibit the artist's refinement, or the family's gentility by extension; by using wool and silk to display a tasteful image of a refined pastoral scene, the artist's ambitions were likely meant to use visual artwork to uphold her family's social status.
Display & Performance
"Needlework Picture" is a large embroidery (about 21 inches tall and 58 inches wide) that was passed down through the Lowell family and was on display at Elmwood in the 19th century (Historic New England). Because of its size and function at James Russell Lowell's home, the embroidery likely served as a "conversation piece"; polite people often hosted conversation pieces in their homes to facilitate socialization, with the implication being that guests could react to the pictures and discuss them (Bushman 1993, p. 87). Conversation pieces were generally paintings of domestic scenes, exhibiting the taste of its owner (Bushman 1993, p. 87). The display of conversation pieces upheld upper class gentility and expedited social practices. Consequently, the performance of "Needlework Picture" as a displayed work of art inevitably assisted the Lowell family's endeavor of upholding their social status. Indeed, the Lowell family rose to prominence in Boston by the 19th century and continued to establish itself as an accomplished family after Francis Cabot Lowell brought the first power loom to the United States (Amory 1947, p. 43).
Ultimately, the embroidery's depiction of the landscape and its motifs of domestic courtship were put in social performance by being on display for the Lowell family. Though the original artist is unknown, the use of an embroidered approach to create romantic depictions of the landscape and 18th century courtship practices pushed its viewers to recognize the Lowell family's higher status in Bostonian society.