Smith Memorial

Date1820-1830

DimensionsSight: 15 × 17 7/8 in. (38.1 × 45.4 cm)

Object numberN0274.1961

Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Stephen C. Clark

Photograph by Richard Walker

Label Text"Smith Memorial" derives from a late 18th century English tradition which blossomed into full flower in this country with the death of Washington in 1799. In the years following, all the lachrimosity of the Romantic movement found expression in the memorial pieces which young ladies were taught to do in school, and which some of them kept on doing long afterward. "Smith Memorial" is by a hand that has left us other similar watercolors, all characterized by a great crispness; there is one in the Garbisch Collection and at least two others in private collections. The colors are still very fresh and clean and the foliage of the trees is done in such a way that, it suggests the tradition of needlework so popular in the previous generation. Gold highlights and the handwritten pieces are pasted on the scene.
BibliographyAgnes Halsey and Louis C. Jones, New-Found Folk Art of the Young Republic ([exh. cat.], Cooperstown, NY: NYSHA, 1960), p. 16.

On View

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