Picture, Needlework

Title:

Benjamin Franklin

Object Name:

Picture, Needlework

Object ID:

1903.003

Creator:

Haines, Lavina Ann (1819-1868); Matteson, Tompkins H. (1813-1884)Artist; Sadd, Henry S.Engraver

Place of Origin:

Lowell, MA

Date:

1850-1851

Description:

Needlework Picture. Canvaswork picture of Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), by Lavina Ann Haines (1819-1868). Based on an engraving that appeared in the New York Albion, 1847. Original painting by Tompkins H. Matteson (1813-1884); engraved by Henry S. Sadd. The picture is worked in Berlin [merino] wool cross stitch, with accents in silk floss. Franklin is seated in his study, surrounded by books and a globe. He wears a black coat buttoned at the chest below his shirt's ruffled jabot; he has sleeve ruffles extending below his coat sleeves. His vest is shades of salmon pink, his breeches are dark green and his stockings are shades of blue. He is seated in a rococo-style upholstered armchair with a large folio of "Law" resting against its left front leg. He holds his glasses in his left hand; he holds in his right hand a compass on a map spread on the desk. Behind him is a window through which can be seen a stormy sea with a sailboat, with lightning in the sky and a lighthouse on the shore. A black object on top of a book in the middle ground is presumably a cocked hat. Another book on the left has a blue cover, partially open (or bent), with 'ALMA / 1732" visible, representing Franklin's Almanack. The scene is done in a wide variety of colors including shades of red, brown, tan, blue, green, gray and gold. The cross stitches are worked at twelve stitches to the inch on linen [probably] canvas. The needlework is tacked to wooden stretchers. Framed.

Material:

Textile
Wool

Dimensions:

H-34.75 W-27.4 inches

Provenance:

Embroidered at Lowell, MA, in 1850 and 1851 by Lavina Ann Davis Haines, wife of Crosby Kimball Haines, a native of Concord, NH. Presented from his estate as ordered in his will, executed by Mrs. Harriet B. Saunders.

Credit Line:

Bequest of Crosby K. Haines

People:

Haines, Lavina Ann (1819-1868), Haines, Crosby K. (1823-1903), Franklin, Benjamin (1706-1790), Matteson, Tompkins H. (1813-1884), Sadd, Henry S. (1811-1893)

Subjects:

Franklin, Benjamin