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2005-51, Needlework Picture
Needlework Picture, "View of the Rt Honble the Earl of BURLINGTON'S HOUse at CHISWICK," by Orra Sears
2005-51, Needlework Picture

Needlework Picture, "View of the Rt Honble the Earl of BURLINGTON'S HOUse at CHISWICK," by Orra Sears

Date1816
Attributed to Orra Sears
OriginAmerica, Connecticut, Litchfield
MediumSilk on silk needlework: silk, chenille, metallic, and crinkled silk threads with paint and ink on a silk ground backed with linen (identification of fibers by eye)
DimensionsFramed: OW: 33 3/8" x OH: 26 1/2". Unframed: OW: 29 3/8" x OH: 22 1/4"
Credit LineGift of Mr. & Mrs. Allen W. Rider
Object number2000-51
DescriptionRectangular needlework picture worked in chenille, crinkled silk, metallic, and silk threads in shades of blue, green, brown, gold, ivory/white, and black with ink and watercolor on a silk ground. Picture consists of a back view of the garden at Chiswick, the Earl of Burlington's house. It is skillfully and intricately worked with many details in ink, watercolor, and embroidered threads.
The left portion of the scene is of the Cassina (Temple of the Water) on the Serpentine River. A footbridge crosses the river. A boat with three people and another with one person are on the river. Two swans and other waterfowl are in the river. A towering tree is behind the temple and trees line the river in the distance. This view is taken from at least two print sources: "A View of the Back Front of the Cassina & Part of the Serpentine River, terminated by the Cascade, in the Garden of the Earl of BURLINGTON, at CHISWICK" by John Donowell (see print 1985-281 in CWF collection) and "View of the back part of the CASSINA and SERPENTINE RIVER, in Chiswick Gardens" engraved by Carey (print in collection of Ron Hurst).
The left portion of the needleworked scene consists of a view of the Villa and Old House at Chiswick. A man in a red coat with a walking stick stands with his back to the viewer at the entrance to the forecourt of the Villa. To the far right is the Old House. A large tree towers over the Old House. A brick/stone wall encloses the front area of these buildings. A man tending two goats is in the left foreground. A horse and carriage with two passengers rides by in the front of the Old House. In the left foreground of this area is a man wearing a red jacket and blue trousers pushing a red wheelbarrow. In the center foreground is a shepherdess tending six sheep. In the right foreground are two men tending fowl. These vignettes may have been taken from other prints of Chiswick. For example, the man pushing the wheelbarrow may have been inspired by a similar figure in the print by John Donowell, "A View of the Cascade, or part of the Serpentine River, and of the West Front of the House of the Earl of BURLINGTON, at CHISWICK."
In the center bottom of the picture worked within an oval cartouche is the inscription, "A View of the Rt Honble the Earl of BURLINGTON'S House/at CHISWICK."
STITCHES: Chain, couching, fly, French knots, outline or stem, satin and encroaching satin, and straight stitches of various lengths, some couched
Label TextA hand-written note from the former owners of this picture states that Orra Sears lived with Lyman Beecher's family in Litchfield, Connecticut while attending Sarah Pierce's Litchfield Female Academy. The Rev. Lyman Beecher played an active role in the school teaching religion and leading prayer and Bible study. The academy was a famous and respected school known for its advanced curriculum. At least two thousand girls from almost every state attended the school during its years of operation from 1792 through 1833. Out-of-town students, such as Orra Sears, boarded with Litchfield families.

American educational goals of the period stressed the proficient duplication in embroidery of idealized themes that were widely recognized and approved of, rather than the development of individual creativity. Needlework compositions were taken from existing illustrations, usually English or Continental engravings or other printed images. Here, at least four different prints depicting views of Chiswick have been used to create the scene on Orra's embroidered picture.

Inscribed"A View of the Rt Honble the Earl of BURLINGTON's HOUse/ at CHISWICK"
ProvenanceThe embroidered picture was presumably worked by Orra Sears of Bloomfield, New York, in 1816 while she was a student at Mrs. Pierce's Female Academy in Litchfield, Connecticut. It descended from the maker, Orra Sears Cooke (1798-1872), to her nephew, Edwin Parsons Sears (1851-1913), to his son, Richard Parson Sears (1881-1972), to his daughter, Sylvia Demarest Sears Rider (Mrs. Allen William Rider) (1922-1958), and would have eventually gone to her daughter, Deborah Ann Rider Radke. In 2000 with the permission of Deborah Radke, Allen William Rider and his second wife, Margaret Rider, donated the picture to the museum. A hand-written note from the second Mrs. Allen Rider states, "…'Orra was the sister of Edwin Parsons Sears' father's father, so was great, great aunt of Sylvia and Barbara Sears.'…The above was recorded by Sylvia Mattes Sears, wife of Richard Parsons Sears, and mother of Sylvia and Barbara Sears (twins) born May 8, 1921. Sylvia Sears was the wife of Allen W. Rider, Buffalo, N.Y. and died May 22, 1958."