8.
Silk Needlework Memorial Picture to Maria Juliet Allen, probably Vermont, c. 1811 stitched with silk and chenille threads on a silk ground
highlighted with paint on the silk background, the figure’s faces and hands and ink inscription, depicting a landscape centered with four figures:
a man and woman, and a younger man and woman, grieving beside an urn-topped monument, the plinth inscribed in an oval reserve: “SACRED
To The Memory of JULIET ALLEN, Who Departed This Life August 18th, 1811, In the 18th Year of Her Age.,” with a weeping willow draping its
branches over the figures, and mountains, trees, water, and shrubbery in the background, (imperfections), sight size 20 1/2 x 24 1/2 in., in a later
gold and eglomise mat and molded giltwood frame.Provenance: Bernstein-Frankau collection, Armonk, New York, sold at Northeast Auctions, August 2, 1998, lot 889, then to the consignors.Literature: Pictured in situ in The Magazine Antiques, November 1946, p. 315. It was then in the Bernstein-Frankau collection.Note: Genealogical information indicates Maria Juliet Allen was born May 22, 1794, the third and last child of Major General Ira Allen (b. April
21 or May 1, 1751, in Cornwall, Connecticut) and his wife Jerusha (Hayden, b. February 6, 1764, in Colchester, Vermont). Maria died at the
age of seventeen while attending school at St. Albans, Vermont. Her father was an important figure in American and Vermont history. He was
the youngest of eight children and brother to Ethan Allen, the commandant of the Green Mountain Boys, who were instrumental in the disputes
between New York and New Hampshire over the region that became Vermont. In colonial times Ira was successful in rallying the Green Mountain
Boys of Vermont to help defeat the Hessian soldiers at the Battle of Bennington, he was a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1791,
founder of the state of Vermont and the state treasurer from 1775-1785, and was founder of the University of Vermont.
$2,000-4,12 additional information and photos at http://www.skinnerinc.com
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