Jane Louck's embroidered picture; The Ascension; 1850
date: label: date made
content: 1850
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: 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.
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>Mary Queen of Scots</i> and <i>The Offering of Isaac.</i>
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
label: See more items in
content: Embroidered Pictures
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content: Textiles
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TE.T11104.01
label: catalog number
content: T11104
label: accession number
content: 238291
objectType: label: Object Name
content: embroidered picture
label: Object Name
content: canvaswork
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: penelope canvas 14/28 (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: worsted wool/silk floss (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: gilded gesso molding (frame) (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (frame) (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: blues (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: browns (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: greens (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: pink (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: gold (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: ivory silk floss (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: faces, hands and feet are worked in petit point (joint piece production method or technique)
label: Physical Description
content: embroidery (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 19 in x 21 3/4 in; 48.26 cm x 55.245 cm