Embroidered Mourning Picture - the de Roldos / Leonard Family

Periodca. 1836

MediumSilk chenille thread, watercolor, ink and graphite on silk

DimensionsSight: 17.63 × 24.75 in. (44.8 × 62.9 cm)

ClassificationsNeedlework

Credit LineMuseum Collection

Object number1984.537

DescriptionA large rectangular mourning picture on a crisp and tightly woven silk ground panel. Dominating the scene is an imposing marble memorial, with an urn atop a heavy double-columned base and plinth, worked in ink and watercolor washes over faint graphite sketch lines. The large urn is inscribed "Sacred / to the / Memory / of," while the central panel is inscribed "JOSEPH DE ROLDOS / Who died in 1826...Aged 30 years, and of / ANTONIA DE ROLDOS. / Who died in April, 1822, Aged 21 Years." At the far right, a smaller memorial column topped with an urn and resting on a stepped plinth, also worked in ink and watercolor washes over graphite, is inscribed "Sacred / to the / Memory / of / Jno. LEONARD. / Who departed this / life May 4th 1836, / Aged 65 / R.I.P." A group of arched tombstones is scattered between both memorial stones. A charming background, painted in ink and watercolor washes, depicts rolling hills, scattered buildings, and white fencing amidst trees and shrubs, with the faint suggestion of mountains in the far distance. A large weeping willow on the left, arching over the main memorial stone, a dying willow near the smaller memorial stone at right, and the foreground grasses are all worked in silk chenille thread in dark green, olive green, medium green, golden brown, russet, and pale tan in laid stitching. A clump of shrubbery at the far left and the bunches of leaves on the smaller dying willow tree appear to be worked in a gathered or looped laid stitch, creating depth and contrast with the smooth appearance of the plain laid stitching. The sky is rendered in pale watercolor washes, darkening towards the top of the scene.
Curatorial RemarksAntoinette de Roldos, maker of this large and appealing mourning embroidery, attended Saint Joseph's Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland. She appears listed as a boarding student in 1835. St. Joseph's was founded by Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born saint canonized in 1975 by the Roman Catholic Church. Seton, a widow, moved her family from New York City to Baltimore and began a school there in 1808. In 1809, she donned a habit, was accorded the title of Mother by Bishop John Carroll, and founded the American Sisters of Charity. In the same year, she relocated the girls school fifty miles west to Emmitsburg, Maryland, and renamed it Saint Joseph's Academy. It was the birthplace of the parochial school system in America. Mother Seton died in 1821 of tuberculosis. The samplers and embroideries made by the students at Saint Joseph's Academy are fine examples of high quality of needlework taught in Catholic-run educational institutions of the nineteenth century. Antoinette de Roldos' own work closely resembles two other mourning pictures from the school, both rendered in watercolor, pen, and embroidery on silk. The first is attributed to Henrietta Baechtel (1823-1894), who entered St. Joseph's Academy in 1837 (ex. col. Betty Ring, sold at Sotheby's sale 8832, lot number 663, in 2012). The second, attributed to Elizabeth Beelin, a student at St. Joseph's Academy in 1833, also included virtually identical monuments and willow trees (sold at Sotheby's sale 5746, lot number 277, in 1988). For her mourning picture, Antoinette de Roldos chose to commemorate two of her deceased siblings as well as her stepfather, John Leonard, who married Antoinette's mother Isabella in or around 1810. The buildings in the background of Antoinette de Roldos' embroidered picture may be a depiction of part of Emmitsburg, which was often included in the pictorial embroideries of St. Joseph's Academy girls. All three students were most likely using the same source for their inspiration, perhaps a contemporary print, painting, or earlier needlework example provided by the Academy's needlework instructress. For further information about St. Joseph's Academy and its needlework, see Betty Ring, "Saiint Joseph's Academy in needlework pictures," in The Magazine Antiques, March 1978, 592 - 599. See also: Betty Ring, Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework, 1650 - 1850 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993), vol. II, 516 - 522.NotesAccording to an inscription on the right hand tombstone, John Leonard, Esq., was a native of New Jersey who died on 4 May 1836 at the age of sixty-four. That small amount of information has led to a remarkable story. John Leonard was born in 1771 in Middletown, Monmouth County, a son of Sheriff Joseph Leonard and his wife Magdalene Gumbauld. Their child was baptised on 6 April 1773 in a private ceremony conducted by the Rev. Samuel Cooke, missionary priest at Christ Episcopal Church in Shrewsbury. Joseph Leonard became an ardent Loyalist during the American Revolution. He joined the British army in New York in 1777, but stayed in the city when those loyal to the King evacuated it in 1783. Leonard's New Jersey property was confiscated and sold between 1784 and 1787. He probably died in New York before 4 October 1786, when his will was proved. So young John grew up in the turbulent times of the Revolution. While captain and owner of the brig Calliope in 1797, his vessel was captured in the Caribbean and sold as a prize. Later in life Leonard and his heirs pressed for settlements in what were called French Spoliation Claims arising out of the 1797 to 1801 "Quasi-War" between the United States and France. Late in 1803, John Leonard embarked on a new career, having been appointed by President James Madison to serve as the United States consul in Barcelona, Spain. He had made a special study of the commercial policies, ordinances, and customs of Spain through his commercial business experiences in Philadelphia and in Europe. By 1810, Leonard had married Isabella de Roldos, by whom he had at least two sons. He remained as consul in Spain until 1833, when he was appointed to the same position at St. Jago [Santiago] de Cuba. The day after his death on 4 May 1836, a short obituary appeared in the National Intelligencer. It read, "Died: yesterday in Georgetown, John Leonard, a native of New Jersey, for many years Consul at Barcelona. Funeral from the house of Mrs. Childs on Bridge st., Georgetown, at 4pm." He was interred at Holy Rood Cemetery, a place of burial that had been established in 1832 on a high hill near Washington, DC, by Holy Trinity Catholic Church. Apparently, Leonard had converted to Catholicism while in Spain. The inscription on the stone reads "Beneath this stone / lie interred the remains of / JOHN LEONARD Esq. / a native of the State of New Jersey in the / UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / who was taken to his God in / the sixty fourth year of his / age / He died on the 4th day of / May 1836." Leonard's will divided his property into three equal parts: first to his widow Isabella de Roldos Leonard, second to his oldest son John A. B. Leonard, and third to his youngest son Francis N. I. Leonard, who was a minor. The larger funerary memorial on the needlework picture is inscribed for Joseph de Roldos (1806 - 1836) and Antonia de Roldos (1801 - 1822), probable children of his wife's from an earlier marriage. Shortly after Leonard's death, the de Roldos family is believed to have returned to Spain.

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