Jane Louck's embroidered picture; The Ascension; 1850
Jane Louck's embroidered picture; The Ascension; 1850
Usage conditions apply
- 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.
- This rectangular canvas work piece depicts the Ascension of Jesus. The biblical account is found in Acts 1: 9-11. Jesus is the main figure, upper center. He wears robes and there is a halo or nimbus around his head. Two men and one woman on the ground partially cover their eyes, as if blinded by the light. The faces, hands, and feet 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 colors of this piece are vivid. The frame is original to the picture; with reverse painted glass and gilded gesso molding on the frame itself. An inscription, "The Ascension J.E.L." is located in the bottom border.
- 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; Mary Queen of Scots and The Offering of Isaac.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Object Name
- embroidered picture
- canvaswork
- date made
- 1850
- associated date
- 1961
- maker
- Loucks, Jane Elizabeth
- Physical Description
- penelope canvas 14/28 (overall material)
- worsted wool/silk floss (overall material)
- gilded gesso molding (frame) (overall material)
- glass (frame) (overall material)
- blues (overall color)
- browns (overall color)
- greens (overall color)
- pink (overall color)
- gold (overall color)
- ivory silk floss (overall color)
- berlin woolwork (overall style)
- tent and half cross stitches (joint piece production method or technique)
- faces, hands and feet are worked in petit point (joint piece production method or technique)
- embroidery (overall production method/technique)
- Measurements
- overall: 19 in x 21 3/4 in; 48.26 cm x 55.245 cm
- ID Number
- TE.T11104.01
- catalog number
- T11104
- accession number
- 238291
- See more items in
- Home and Community Life: Textiles
- Embroidered Pictures
- Textiles
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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