The Affectionate Heart
This boldly designed watercolor on velvet represents a very fine example of the practice of making stencil patterns on fabric or paper, which came into vogue in England in the late eighteenth century. It soon arrived in America and reached its peak of popularity in the 1820s and 1830s. There were many contemporary treatises on the process of making pictures with stencils, and was known as "theorem painting," with each stencil being a "theorem.’ It was also called velvet painting, Oriental tinting, and Poonah painting, after Poona, Bombay, where it was thought that the technique originated. Theorem painting was considered a woman’s pastime, and became part of the curriculum in young ladies seminaries.
While most of the patterns for theorem paintings represented still lives of flowers and fruits, often in a basket, this example is more creative, and responds to English romantic poetry of the eighteenth and early nineteenth-centuries. The urn shaped flower pot bears a stanza from the poem entitled "The Affectionate Heart," by the 18th century British poet and landscape gardener William Shenstone (1714-1763). It was published in the British paper Morning Chronicle, December 23, 1799, and signed "Joseph Cottle." Shenstone had a modest career as a poet, but excelled as a landscape gardener, and ranked alongside such noted landscape gardeners as Capability Brown.
The artist of this work was likely a school girl in Britain or North America. She uses the romantic themes of the Shenstone poem as inspiration for her composition.
While most of the patterns for theorem paintings represented still lives of flowers and fruits, often in a basket, this example is more creative, and responds to English romantic poetry of the eighteenth and early nineteenth-centuries. The urn shaped flower pot bears a stanza from the poem entitled "The Affectionate Heart," by the 18th century British poet and landscape gardener William Shenstone (1714-1763). It was published in the British paper Morning Chronicle, December 23, 1799, and signed "Joseph Cottle." Shenstone had a modest career as a poet, but excelled as a landscape gardener, and ranked alongside such noted landscape gardeners as Capability Brown.
The artist of this work was likely a school girl in Britain or North America. She uses the romantic themes of the Shenstone poem as inspiration for her composition.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Affectionate Heart
- Artist: Unidentified artist, British or American, 19th century
- Date: ca. 1820–35
- Culture: American
- Medium: Watercolor on velvet
- Dimensions: Framed: 27 × 20 1/2 in. (68.6 × 52.1 cm)
- Credit Line: Gift of Jacqueline Loewe Fowler, 2020
- Object Number: 2021.14.33
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Unidentified
Unidentified
19th century
Unidentified
16th–17th century
Unidentified
ca. 1895
Unidentified
ca. 1885
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.