With Needle and Brush

An exhibition at the FLORENCE GRISWOLDMUSEUM OLD LYME, CONNECTICUT OCTOBER 2, 2010  JANUARY 30, 2011 Guest Curators: Carol & Stephen Huber W ITH N EEDLE & B RUSH Eunice Noyes (1791–1870) of Old Lyme, Connecticut, stitched this beautiful rendition of the story of Blanch &Henriques in 1807 at the age of sixteen while attending Lydia Royse’s school in Hartford. The scene, most likely copied from a print, a common source for young ladies’ embroideries, depicts either the first meeting or marriage proposal of Henri IV of Castile and Blanch II of Navarre, who is seated next to her chaperone. Worked in silk and paint, Eunice included a small strip of green velvet in the foreground, a characteristic commonly found on embroideries from the Royse school. Silk, paint and applied velvet on silk; 18 x 21¾ inches sight. Private collection. Schoolgirl Embroidery from the Connecticut River Valley