Embroidered Pictures

In the early 1800s, silk-embroidered pictures became a popular form of needlework in America, and young women could learn this challenging needlework technique at specialized academies. (In this case, needlework can be defined as embellishing cloth with designs stitched with a needle and thread.) In addition to patriotic scenes, subjects included classical, biblical, historical, and the ever-popular mourning pictures.

The death of George Washington gave impetus to a new fad, the mourning picture. It included an assortment of plinth, urn, mourners, and willow trees in a garden setting. They often show relatives or friends grieving before a monument dedicated to a lost loved one.

Canvas work, which today is known as needlepoint, was a form of embroidery that was also used to create pictures. It was done by young women in specialized academies as well as by adults. The earliest piece in the Textile Collection was done by Mary Williams in 1744 and the latest in 1935 by Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt II.

There are approximately 50 embroidered pictures in the Textile Collection.

By the 1840s a new technique [in the field] of needlepoint known as Berlin wool work was the rage. It arose in Germany at the beginning of the 19th century. New dyes became available and brightly colored wools could be worked in tent stitch on canvas.
Description
By the 1840s a new technique [in the field] of needlepoint known as Berlin wool work was the rage. It arose in Germany at the beginning of the 19th century. New dyes became available and brightly colored wools could be worked in tent stitch on canvas. The patterns were painted by hand on “point paper,” which today would be called graph paper. Jane’s piece is an example of this technique.
A large rectangular composition shows Mary, Queen of Scots, kneeling over Douglas, who lies mortally wounded on the ground. A riderless horse stands nearby, probably Douglas’s. All in clothing of the period. The warriors wear armor and carry lances. One has a banner. The faces and hands are done in petit point. The picture is worked on penelope canvas ground, 14/28 threads per inch, with Berlin wool in tent/half cross stitch.
The title of this piece is Mary Queen of Scots, Mourning over the Dying Douglas at the Battle of Langside. It is based on a painting by Charles Landseer (1799-1879). However, Douglas did not die at that battle. Charles Landseer based many of his paintings on the novels of Sir Walter Scott, and in his book entitled The Abbot, Douglas does die at the Battle of Langside. Scott was writing historical fiction and so he could have Douglas die whenever and wherever he wanted him to.
In 1856 Jane entered this piece in the American Institute Fair in New York City where it was awarded the bronze medal (which was first prize for worsted work.) (See picture of her medal.)
Jane Elizabeth Loucks was born in 1835 to John and Desdemonia Marsh Loucks in Sharon, New York. She married Joseph Warren Hastings on February 16, 1871, in Manhattan. They moved to Illinois and had one daughter, Dena. See her other pieces; The Ascension of Jesus and The Offering of Isaac.
Location
Currently not on view
associated date
1961
maker
Loucks, Jane Elizabeth
ID Number
TE.T11103.01
catalog number
T11103
accession number
238291

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