Lot 17: A WATERCOLOR ON PAPER MOURNING PICTURE

Inscribed by Mary Eliza Stafford on the reverse painted glass mat and attributed to Mary Balch's School, Providence, Rhode Island, circa 1821 Depicting two urns with inscribed dedication: Consecrated to the memory Of Mr. Thomas Stafford who was born July 29th. 1735. and died April 29th. 1816./And Mrs. Rebecca Stafford/who was born on May 28th 1739. and died May 7th 1819./ Consecrated to the memory/Of Mr. Robert Rhodes who was born April 1st. 1742/and died March 25th. 1821/And Mrs. Phebe Rhodes. who was born February 14th. 1744 and died May 31st. 1819. 161/4 x 203/4in. (sight) PROVENANCE Hanes Ruskin, Westbrook, Connecticut, 24 July 1988. NOTES Mary Eliza Stafford, born October 14, 1804, was eighth among the eleven children of Thomas Stafford Jr. and Polly Rhodes of Warwick, Rhode Island. She was probably about seventeen years old when she painted this memorial to her grandparents. She married Thomas Holden Jr. at Warwick, December 15, 1830. For similar urns and monument decoration, see Ring, Let Virtue Be a Guide to Thee (Providence, 1983), figs. 85, 90, 91.