Randi Ona
       Early American Antiques

Rare American “Dressed Picture”, ca. 1810- 1820. Mixed media collage that depicts everyday life using paper, paint, and fabric.  A mother with children in a home was a common subject for these pieces, emphasizing family virtue and the "domestic sphere."  These pieces were typically created by young women from affluent families in academies or at home.  It was a way for a woman to show she understood and was accomplished in both fine art and "domestic art".

 

In this piece, black silk was used as the base. It made the room look like it had depth without needing to embroider a full background.  In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, patterned carpets and floor cloths became more accessible to the rising middle class.  This artist stenciled or hand-painted rosettes with a thick, opaque paint to simulate patterned flooring or a carpet.  This detail adds another layer of status symbol: the family in the picture could afford luxury floor coverings. 

 

The mother’s dress and the children’s clothes were cut out of silk or cotton, pleated or folded to create real dimension, and then glued or stitched down.  Since these were actual fabric scraps, they were often high-quality remnants from the family’s own dressmaking.

 

While “Dressed Pictures” started in Europe, it became a trend in American female academies, particularly in New England and Philadelphia