Object number1960.9.24.a

Sampler

Date1787

Artist Elizabeth Curtis (British)

Author Isaac Watts (English, 1674 - 1748)

CultureBritish, English

MediumSilk embroidery on wool

DimensionsComposition: 16 1/2 x 12 1/4 in. (41.9 x 31.1 cm)
Framed: 19 1/2 x 15 1/8 in. (49.5 x 38.4 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mrs. James W. Packard (Elizabeth Gillmer, class of 1894)

On View

Not on view

Period18th c

Classification(s)

Signed Eliz Curtis finish'd /May the 23 1787

Inscribed An Hymn / GREAT God, I own thy / Sentence just And Nature / must decay I yield my Body / to the Dust' To dwell with / fellow Clay / 2 / Yet Faith may triumph / o're the Grave, And / trample on the Tombs / My Jesus, my Redeemer lives / My God my Savior coms / 3 / The Mighty Conquror / shall appear High on a royal / Seat And Death the last of / all his Foes lie Vanquish'd at his feet.; at center, right column: 4 / Tho greedy Worms devour / my skin And gnaw my wasting / flesh When God shall build / my bones again He cloths / them all afresh / 5 / Then shall I see thy Lovely / Face with strong Immortal Eyes / And Feast upon thy Unknown grace / With Pleasure and surprize / Gloria patri / Now let the Father and the / son And Spirit be adord / Where there are works to / make him known Or Saints / to Love the Lord

BibliographyThanks be to my Friends: Selected Samplers from the Collection of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, 2004

Vassar Exhibitions

Between The Lines: Innovation and Expression in Women's Sewing Samplers

Exhibition HistoryModeling Femininity: Art and the Moral Education of Nineteenth-Century Women, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, January 27 - March 15, 2000;

Thanks be to my Friends: Selected Samplers from the Collection of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, June 5 - July 18, 2004
DescriptionThe upper half of the sampler contains the inscription - name of the maker and the finish date of the work - above the words of a hymn, The Triumph of Death, by Isaac Watts cross stitched in red in two tablets, embellished with flowering sprigs and birds, and surrounded and divided by a simple, stylized floral in wreath in green, red, yellow and two blues. Below in a pastoral landscape underneath densely stitched clouds, an anthropomorphic sun , flocks of birds, and clouds of butterflies, a musician and a shepherdess watch over and hand feed their sheep. In the background between them is a blue windmill surrounded by a fence. On the right a two story red house with a blue single story extension and apple tree are very similar to the elements of the house and tree arrangement seen in the Catherine Curtis sampler (1960.9.24 b). The sampler is surrounded by an arcaded blue floral border.

Terms

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu