- Maker
- Dunham, Nancy
- Date made
- ca. 1805
- Origin
- Litchfield, CT US
- Stitches
- Satin, Encroaching Satin, Long and short, Outline, Daisy, French knot.
- In Bolton & Co.
- No
- Foundation Cloth
- Silk
- Embroidery Thread
- Silk, Chenille
- Predominent Motif
- Combining a memorial tribute to her mother with a visual portrait of the family, twelve-year-old Nancy Dunham created a hybrid form that seems to have been especially favored in Connecticut. Her father, Captain Eleazer Dunham, stands behind his wife?s tomb, his face partially blocked. At right, the oldest daughter, sixteen-year-old Phila, kneels with the one surviving son, ten-year-old Ephraim. At left are three younger daughters, Nancy and eight-year-old twins, Dolly and Roxanna. Their faces are all hidden by sunbonnets and white handkerchiefs, thus eliminating the need for painting likenesses. Sky faces and arms are painted onto the silk ground. In the background are weeping willows, a cluster of buildings and on the R a small hill.
- Inscription
- (Hand written on the monument): Sacred to the Memory / of Mrs. Lois Dunham, Obt / August 25th AD 1804 Ae 43 yrs / I will think of thy Departed Virtues and weep to thy / Memory (Hand painted at the bottom of the glass in the frame): Nancy Dunham
- Length Without Frame
- 16 3/4"
- Width Without Frame
- 16"
- Historical Owner
- #1959.2.2 Purchased
- Owner
- Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, CT
- Owner Private
- Connecticut Historical Society
