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Needlework Picture, "Making Hay" by Unknown Maker
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Needlework Picture, "Making Hay" by Unknown Maker

DatePossibly 1825-1830
Artist/Maker Julia F. Edwards
Attributed to School of Miss. Marston
OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, Quincy
MediumSilk, silk chenille, and wool embroidery threads with pencil, watercolor, gouache, and (possibly) ink, all executed on a plain-weave silk ground stitched to a plain-weave support of unbleached linen; metal nails, white pine, glass, brass hanging rings, and block-printed wallpaper (fiber identification by eye)
DimensionsFramed: OH 14" x OW 19" Strainers: OH 12" x OW 17" Pictorial Image: OH 8 3/4" x OW 13 3/4" (irregular)
Credit LineBequest of Mrs. Clyde C. Trudell
Object number1994.601.1
DescriptionThis needlework picture is worked in gold, blue, and green embroidery threads on a plain-weave silk ground with a blue, painted sky. A tree divides the composition vertically. At far right stands a woman holding a rake, with piles of hay at her feet. She wears a gold dress and a straw hat. Behind her, in the far distance, is a building flanked either by two walls or colonnades. To the left of the tree is a stone wall with trees and other foliage visible above it. Also, to the left of the tree is a small girl who holds a basket on her (anatomical) left arm and a flower in her (anatomical) right hand. She wears a gold dress and a blue bonnet. She is accompanied by a woman who stands to the left with a rose blossom in her hand. She wears a gold dress and a cap that is adorned by two large feathers. A rose bush sits at the far left. A penciled or inked sketch of a frond of foliage appears in the lower unworked silk margin, beneath the figure of the woman holding a rose, with other illegible markings to the right, beneath the other adult figure.

Stitches: couched, encroaching satin, French knots, satin

The embroidery stitches penetrate both silk and linen supports.
Label TextThis scene, also known as "Making Hay," was a popular subject of schoolgirl art; the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum owns a watercolor of the same composition. This piece was most likely produced by a girl named Julia F. Edwards at a school in Quincy, Massachusetts established by a Miss. Marston.
MarkingsA pencil or ink sketch of a frond of foliage appears in the lower unworked silk margin, beneath the figure of the woman holding a rose, with other illegible markings to the right, beneath the other adult figure.

ProvenanceThis needlework picture likely descended along the matrilineal line, from the maker, Julia Edwards (d. 1840) to her daughter, Martha Ann Veazie (b. 1836), to her daughter, Martha Josephine Hardwick (1875-1957), to her daughter, Martha Cantfill (1901-1993). Martha Cantfill (the donor) was also known as Mrs. Clyde C. Trudell.

History of Maker:
Julia F. Edwards (d. 1840) married George Veazie (1809-1889) on April 13, 1832. Together they had two children, Martha Ann (b. 1836) and George Harrison (1840-1841).