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Lot Essay
Expertly worked by Gloucester, Massachusetts native Mary Beach (1786-1843) in an abundance of richly dyed silk, this needlework is an outstanding example from the Dorchester, Massachusetts elite academy run by Judith Saunders (d. 1841) and Clementina Beach (1774-1855). The two women established the school in Gloucester sometime between 1802 and 1803 and boarded daughters from some of the most prominent New England families. By March of 1803 the headmistresses had relocated the school to Dorchester, Massachusetts, where Beach purchased a newly constructed house on Meeting House Hill (fig.1). Here the two women instructed both boarders and day scholars until Saunders’ sudden death in 1841.
Mary Beach, who was the first cousin of Clementina and boarded at the school with her sister Elizabeth, was approximately eighteen years of age at the time she created this needlework, which is reflected in the refined and fluid working of the robes. The subject is Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi, and was copied from an engraving by Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815) after the original painting by Angelica Kauffmann (1741-1807) now at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. Bartolozzi produced several engravings of Kauffmann’s classical paintings, which often depicted Classical virtues – in this case the shunning of worldly possessions in favor of the values of the family – that often served as pattern sources collected by the academies. Saunders and Beach apparently had an extensive library and in the March 21, 1827 edition of the Columbian Centinel (Boston) invited parents of prospective students “to call and view the collection of fine Drawings, English and French Books, . provided for the use of the pupils” (Jane C. Nylander, “Some Print Sources of New England Schoolgirl Art,” The Magazine Antiques (August 1976), p. 296).
The original elegantly inscribed églomisé border and giltwood frame were likely supplied by the Roxbury cabinetmaker, carver and gilder John Doggett (1780-1857). Between 1804 and 1809 his ledger records supplying the school with thirty-seven frames for needleworks ranging in price from $1.00 to $12.00, many of which he framed with glass he decorated with “enameling and lettering”. (Betty Ring, “Mrs. Saunders’ and Miss Beach’s Academy, Dorchester,” The Magazine Antiques (August 1976), pp. 302-310; Betty Ring, Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850, vol. I (New York, 1993), pp. 94-99).
Mary Beach, who was the first cousin of Clementina and boarded at the school with her sister Elizabeth, was approximately eighteen years of age at the time she created this needlework, which is reflected in the refined and fluid working of the robes. The subject is Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi, and was copied from an engraving by Francesco Bartolozzi (1727-1815) after the original painting by Angelica Kauffmann (1741-1807) now at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond. Bartolozzi produced several engravings of Kauffmann’s classical paintings, which often depicted Classical virtues – in this case the shunning of worldly possessions in favor of the values of the family – that often served as pattern sources collected by the academies. Saunders and Beach apparently had an extensive library and in the March 21, 1827 edition of the Columbian Centinel (Boston) invited parents of prospective students “to call and view the collection of fine Drawings, English and French Books, . provided for the use of the pupils” (Jane C. Nylander, “Some Print Sources of New England Schoolgirl Art,” The Magazine Antiques (August 1976), p. 296).
The original elegantly inscribed églomisé border and giltwood frame were likely supplied by the Roxbury cabinetmaker, carver and gilder John Doggett (1780-1857). Between 1804 and 1809 his ledger records supplying the school with thirty-seven frames for needleworks ranging in price from $1.00 to $12.00, many of which he framed with glass he decorated with “enameling and lettering”. (Betty Ring, “Mrs. Saunders’ and Miss Beach’s Academy, Dorchester,” The Magazine Antiques (August 1976), pp. 302-310; Betty Ring, Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850, vol. I (New York, 1993), pp. 94-99).