Cutwork Lord's Prayer

DateProbably 1830-1848

Artist Martha Ann Honeywell (ca. 1794-after 1847)

MediumPaper, thread, and ink

DimensionsPrayer alone: 4in. (10.2cm); Embroidered star-shaped surround): 7 3/8in. (18.7cm); Sight, exposed secondary support in present frame): 8 3/4in. (22.2cm); and Framed: 16 1/2 x 16 1/2in.

Credit LineGift of Ted and Betty Stvan

Object number2008.306.2

DescriptionAn intricate composition incorporating cut paper, silk thread embroidery, and pin-pricked paper, all of the separate elements laid over and glued onto a larger paper overall support. All of the individual elements appear to have been created by the artist, but It is uncertain whether she placed and glued them in their present arrangement.

In the center, a delicately cut 8-pointed star encloses the text of the Lord's Prayer, with an added inscription on an oval reserve at the bottom. A meandering vine borders the circular-formatted text, with a diagonally fringed border beyond it. An 8-sided border (with a point projecting from each side) follows. Each point contains a tiny cut paper representation of a blooming potted plant. The 8-pointed star and prayer are cut cream-colored paper laid against a black paper secondary support. Stuck between the points of the star are small cut sprigs of bright green paper, resembling small trees. The 8-pointed star and prayer are laid atop and glued onto a larger, 4-pointed star of cream-colored paper whose points are filled with multi-colored floral embroidery designs in silk thread; the outer edges of the 4-pointed star are slashed and embroidered. Two types of cutpaper designs surround the 4-pointed star: (1) four cuttings in cream-colored paper, each roughly triangular in shape, depicting blooming plant designs and laid on bright turquoise-colored paper secondary supports, and (2) eight small tree-like sprigs of cut dark green paper.

The 1 1/4-inch gilded scoop-molded frame and the green silk-covered window mat with a circular aperture are modern replacements that were added by CWF's donors.
Label TextMartha Ann Honeywell was one of the nineteenth century's most remarkable artists. She was also one of its best-documented, thanks to the multitude of newspaper notices and broadsides she issued. Thus, a great deal is known about some aspects of her person and her career, most famously, the fact that she was "born without arms." Rising to the challenge of her physical handicap, she amazed audiences by holding "a common pair of Scissors" in her mouth and, with it, cutting paper silhouette portraits of visitors, as well as more intricate pieces, such as watch papers, flowers, landscapes, "and even the Lord's Prayer --- perfectly legible . . . ." Editorial commentary in a Baltimore newspaper in 1828 listed many of her amazing feats, adding that "the Lord's Prayer surprizes us the most."
Some of her work was accomplished by manipulating scissors, needles, pens, and brushes with her toes. (She was born with only three, on one foot). In addition to cutting paper, she drew, wrote, and stitched, all of her skills executed with a finesse and deftness that eluded most of her unhandicapped contemporaries. She supported herself by charging for demonstrations and by selling examples of her work, traveling widely in Eastern and Midwestern America and in Europe. She was not the first or only person who conquered marked physical challenges in order to pursue an artistic career in the first half of the nineteenth century, but today she is perhaps the best known.
InscribedOn an oval reserve beneath the Lord's Prayer, written in script in brown ink, is: "Cut with the/Mouth by/Martha A Honeywell".
In cutpaper lettering above the preceding is: "The Lord's Prayer/Our Father, who art in/heaven, Hallowed be thy name./thy Kingdom Come, thy will be done/on earth as it is in heaven. Give us/this day our daily bread, and forgive/us our trespasses, as we forgive those/who trespass against us, and lead us/not into temptation, but deliver us/from evil, for thine is the kingdom/and the power and the glory, for/ever and ever. Amen."
ProvenanceDr. Jerome Tausley, Independence, Ohio; in 1972, bought by CWF's donors, Ted and Betty Stvan, Williamsburg, Va.