Mary Queen of Scots, Mourning the Dying Douglas at the Battle of Langside
date: label: associated date
content: 1961
name: label: maker
content: Loucks, Jane Elizabeth
notes: label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: The title of this piece is <i>Mary Queen of Scots, Mourning over the Dying Douglas at the Battle of Langside.</i> 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 <i>The Abbot,</i> 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.
label: Description
content: 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.)
label: Description
content: 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; <i>The Ascension of Jesus</i> and <i>The Offering of Isaac</i>.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, Sharon
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
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content: Embroidered Pictures
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content: Textiles
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Miss Crystal Palmer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TE.T11103.01
label: catalog number
content: T11103
label: accession number
content: 238291
objectType: label: Object Name
content: embroidered picture
label: Other Terms
content: embroidered picture; Circa 1850; Wool on Canvas Picture
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: penelope canvas ground 14/28 (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: berlin wool (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: reds (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: greens (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: blues (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: brown (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: gold (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: black (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: berlin woolwork (overall style)
label: Physical Description
content: tent and half cross stitches (joint piece production method or technique)
label: Physical Description
content: embroidery (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: average spatial: 53 1/2 in x 39 1/2 in; x 135.89 cm x 100.33 cm