With Needle and Brush

WATERCOLORS Painting in watercolor was an elective subject at girls schools that gained popularity in the late eighteenth century and continued well into the mid-nineteenth century, particularly at many of the larger schools. Memorial tributes were often painted in watercolor with inked inscriptions. Other subjects included famous buildings, pastoral scenes, children at play, and floral motifs. WATERCOLORS ON SILK Watercolors painted on silk were more difficult to execute than on paper, and hence examples are less common though taught at some of the female academies. Frequently painted to look like needlework, using small brush strokes to emulate stitches, the subject was usually a memorial. Lucy Chillson (1795–1870), Weathersfield, VT. Watercolor, Windsor, VT, circa 1806 Watercolor on silk with gold band of paper surround; 15⅞ x 19⅜ inches Private collection Lucy Chillson of Weathersfield, Vermont, painted this memorial to her father (who died in 1806), probably at the nearby Windsor Female Academy in Windsor, Vermont. She used short brush strokes to imitate embroidery stitches and surrounded her work with a band of gold-painted paper. The figures most likely represent Lucy and her mother. Unknown member of the Streeter Family Memorial, Chesterfield, N.H., circa 1833 Watercolor and ink on paper; 15½ x 20½ inches Private collection This circa 1833 watercolor celebrates the family of Russell Streeter of Chesterfield, New Hampshire, and was most likely painted by one of his older daughters, Angela or Augusta. The births of his nine children by two different wives are recorded along with death dates of those departed. The sta- tistics are inscribed within an ornate columned archway with drapery, tassels, and angels, as well as on the black-shrouded monument. The female figure with an anchor representing Hope stands to the left of the monument while a ship flying an American flag sails in the background.