With Needle and Brush

CANVASWORK Canvaswork scenes of bucolic landscapes taken from print sources or created as original designs were fashionable pictures for girls to stitch at school in the eighteenth century. They were worked in needlepoint stitches on a linen canvas using silk and/or wool thread. These scenes were sometimes incorporated into a sampler as a pictorial panel in the lower or middle portion, while the traditional alphabet and numbers were stitched above (see Alice Mather’s sampler on previous page). Most examples from Connecticut were made in Norwich. A small group of early related canvasworks made by Middletown and Fairfield girls feature floral designs suggesting that their teacher perhaps trained in Norwich. Unidentified daughter of John Chandler, Jr., Woodstock, Conn. Canvaswork, possibly Norwich, Conn., circa 1758 Wool and silk on linen; 15 x 23 inches Private collection This intriguing canvaswork scene of two courting couples engaged in conversation, one holding hands, the other about to be hit by cupid’s arrow, was worked by a daughter of John Chandler Jr., of Woodstock, Connecticut, circa 1758. The embroidery gives the viewer a glimpse of an intimate country garden party of the mid-eighteenth century, complete with furniture brought outside from the house and servants presenting refreshments. It is unknown where the Chandler girls attended school, but it may have been Norwich, where canvasworks were popular at the time. Mary Lockwood (unknown life dates). Canvaswork (one of a pair), Fairfield, Conn., 1740s. Wool on linen; 16½ x 13 inches. Private collection. To date, there is a group of four extant Fairfield examples with similar compositions and one from Middletown, Connecticut. Some of the floral designs are derived from bed hangings, while other motifs like the houses and trees are original creations. They are stunningly graphic with their bold colors and solidly stitched black backgrounds typical of Norwich work during this period. The location where Mary made this canvaswork is unknown.