In the early 1800s many young women memorialized recently departed family members and national heroes in multimedia pictures. The present work honors the memory of Mary Bemis Vose (1769–1807), wife of Isaac Vose (1767–1823), a Boston cabinetmaker. To create this tribute to her mother, Ann Vose, at only ten years of age, probably executed the needlework herself. However, she presumably had professional assistance with the pattern outline, detail painting, and calligraphy. The isolation of separation is poignantly depicted in this picture: a contemplative female is seated between two tomb markers and under the shield of a willow tree. Only a small area of barren horizon is revealed.

Technical notes: Ribbed silk taffeta ground; silk embroidery thread; applied paper; watercolor; ink. Original painted glass and frame.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.