Haymarket Theatre Display & Performance
Display & Performance
Between 1750 and 1850, watercolor landscape paintings were used as ornamental decorations in wealthy and merchant-class homes. The paintings would have been mounted on walls, overmantels, and cornices (Kogan 2013, p. 114). Landscape decor conveyed a family's pride in their local towns and country, celebrating American ideals in the early republic (Kogan 2013, p. 115). By using imagery of local landscapes as decor in their homes, wealthier Americans conveyed pride to houseguests. Haymarket Theatre portrays the outskirts of the Boston landscape, meaning its display likely aided a wealthier or merchant-class family in their social pursuits; much like Needlework Picture, the display of Haymarket Theatre indicates that it functioned as a household conversation piece. Both elite and merchant-class Americans used landscape paintings of vistas, homes, and buildings as visual proof of their importance during the early republic (Kogan 2013, p. 116). Thus, the image of Hatch's Tavern, Haymarket Theatre, and the William Foster House was likely used by a wealthier family to simultaneously convey a sense of pride about the landscape and to reinforce their socioeconomic status.