Winter 2016

2016 Antiques & Fine Art 163 Hannah and Julie Cogswell Instructing Female Students at Atkinson Academy, by Hannah Pearson Cogswell (1791–1869), Atkinson, New Hampshire, 1811-1812. Watercolor and pencil on paper, 11 x 15⅛ in. Frank and Barbara Pollack, American Antiques and Art. Hannah Pearson Cogswell, who was twenty when she painted this watercolor of herself and her older sister Julia teaching a class of girls at Atkinson Academy, offers a rare contemporary look inside an active classroom. The Academy, which was founded in 1787 as an all-boys school and began its first term in 1789, started admitting girls after it was incorporated in 1791, the year of Hannah’s birth. The sisters’ father, Dr. William Cogswell, was one of three founders of the school and president of its board, and their older brother, also named William (1788–1850), attended the Academy along with his sisters and other siblings before graduating from Dartmouth College in 1811. Like his sisters, William also taught at the Academy when he was young, and served briefly as its principal. Work Table,1815–1825, artist unidentified, top features view of Mount Vernon, possibly made in Maine. White pine, maple, brass knob, and original painted decoration, 28 x 23½ x 17 in. Collection of Jane and Gerald Katcher. This unusual table is a late example of a memorial to George Washington. The octagonal top of the table carries a detailed view of Mount Vernon. Like other images of America mourning Washington, the source of this image can be traced to England, in this case to an aquatint published by Francis Jukes in 1800. As is the case with examples from other New England schools, this table’s decorations extend to its legs, which are entwined with vines. It differs from other known schoolgirl tables, however, in that it is made entirely of white pine rather than more typical birch or maple and was painted white before being decorated.