Needlework picture

1805-1815

Maker

Probably Ann Jefferis Wilson (1791–1822)
Folwell School of Philadelphia

Measurements

26 in x 33 3/4 in

Materials

Silk and paint on silk

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, The David Wilson Mansion, Inc.

Accession Number

1971.1247

Condition Notes

The frame and églomisé glass liner are modern replacements.

Provenance

Ex coll. Mrs. E. Tatnall (Mary Corbit) Warner. Ownership was transferred to Winterthur in the 1969 merger of The David Wilson Mansion, Inc., but a September 27, 1963, letter from rare book dealer Charles Sessler of Philadelphia to Mrs. Charles Lee (Harriet Hurd Curtis) Reese Jr., discussing an earlier frame for the needlework suggests that she inherited it from Mary Corbit Warner and then gave it to The David Wilson Mansion, Inc., if she had not been acting on the corporation’s behalf regarding the frame.

Comments

Provenance and survivals of other examples of needlework with similar histories suggest that it was worked by Ann Jefferis Wilson, a forebear of Mrs. Warner.  Several details in the needlework, including the red cottage, the sheep, and the crossed trees, link it to the Folwell School run by Samuel Folwell (1763–1813) and his wife, Ann Elizabeth Gebler (1772–1824).  The main subject of the picture features a winged woman holding a feather in one hand and bestowing a wreath in the other upon a seated woman holding olive and laurel branches.  The seemingly incongruous plumed helmet and oval shield at her feet signal a missing Greek soldier, likely Hector of Iliad fame, who was killed by Achilles.  Hector's wife, Andromache, is the seated woman; the winged figure is Nike, messenger of of the gods.

Bibliography

Hotchkiss, “Wilson-Warner House,” 887, pl. II.

Zimmerman, A Storied Past, 194-195.