{"object":[{"sourceId":{"label":"Source ID","value":"2099"},"copyright":{"label":"Copyright","value":"The American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain."},"creditline":{"label":"Credit Line","value":"Eva and Morris Feld Folk Art Acquisition Fund"},"endDate":{"label":"End Date","value":"1822"},"sortNumber":{"label":"Sort Number","value":"1992    25    1"},"invno":{"label":"Accession number","value":"1992.25.1"},"description":{"label":"Description","value":"Remembrance of Capt. Matthew Prior and his son, Barker, who sailed from Bath in 1815 \" and have never been heard of since.\"  Capt. Prior, a ship builder, was the father of William Matthew Prior."},"medium":{"label":"Medium","value":"Watercolor, pencil, and ink on silk"},"geographyPlaceregion":{"label":"Place/Region","value":["Bath","Portland"]},"media":{"label":"Media","value":{"mediaURL":"https://collection.folkartmuseum.org/internal/media/dispatcher/2391/full","mediaDepartment":"Object Photographs","mediaType":"Image","mediaId":"2391"}},"title":{"label":"Title","value":"Mourning Piece for Captain Mathew Prior and His Son Barker"},"geographyCity":{"value":["Bath","Portland"]},"textEntriesWebsitedisplaytext":{"value":["Mourning","watercolor","Jane Gray Otis Prior may have been a boarder at the Misses Martin's School in Portland, Maine, when she painted this mourning piece. Mourning pieces gained favor as schoolgirl exercises in the early years of the nineteenth century, especially after the death of George Washington in 1799. Laden with symbolic imagery, they combined classical funerary elements, inspired by archaeological sites discovered in the middle of the eighteenth century, with Christian ideas of the good garden. Although some mourning pieces commemorated well-known literary and historical figures in the tradition of European antecedents, the art form was democratized in America to include personal tributes to family members or friends. The earliest American mourning pieces were usually needleworks executed in silk embroidery on silk, with watercolor sometimes used in the sky or to paint faces. This example was executed entirely in watercolor and ink on silk but retains the needlework aesthetic in short brushstrokes that simulate stitches.Jane Prior was one of four sisters of well-known portrait painter William Matthew Prior. Her mourning watercolor memorializes their father, Captain Mathew Prior (1774\u20131815), and their brother Barker (1799\u20131815), who were lost at sea. The monument sits in a garden setting with other family stones against a seascape with a departing ship. The text on the stone mourns the loss of these important family members who \"sailed from Bath for England...and have never been heard of since.\" Jane is also known for another schoolgirl exercise, a scenic painting on a box. It is not known when she moved to Richmond, but in 1824, Jane Gray Otis Prior \"of Richmond\" married Dr. Erastus Willey in St. John's Church in Henrico County, Virginia. Her husband died in 1859 and is buried in the North Church Cemetery, in Henrico County.Stacy C. Hollander, \"Mourning Piece for Captain Mathew Prior and His Son Barker,\" in American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 309. Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.　To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org ","Jane Otis Prior was the sister of William Matthew Prior. She is thought to have attended Miss Martin's School in Portland, Maine where this watercolor may have been executed. She also painted a scenic box in the collection of Nina Fletcher Little for a friend. ","As the child of a Bath, Maine, sea captain, Jane Grey Otis Prior, older sister of celebrated artist William Matthew Prior, would have always known the long absences of her father and the uncertainty of his return from sea. Every family who stood on shore as their loved ones sailed into the horizon faced the same burden of doubt. In 1815, that eventuality occurred when her father, Captain Matthew Prior (1774\u20131815) and her sixteen-year-old brother Barker (1799\u20131815) were \"lost in the ocean,\" never to be seen again. Prior\u2019s schoolgirl mourning piece commemorates the calamitous loss of father and brother with a breathtaking economy of words: \"They sailed from Bath to England Novr 7, 1815 and have never been heard of since.\" These few words not only tersely reflect the incalculable tragedy of losing these significant family members, but the additional horror that their bodies most likely would never be recovered. Unlike mourning pieces in Europe, where the art form originated, mourning expressions were democratized in the newly formed United States, and Americans soon came to memorialize their own loved ones as well as historical and literary figures. This watercolor and ink on silk may have been painted while Jane boarded at the respected Portland school operated by the Misses Martins between 1803 and 1829. Here, according to contemporary sources, the \"English branches were taught, a little French, music, painting, and many kinds of fancy work, lace making and filigree, also geography with the use of globes.\" It is not known whether this mourning piece was composed shortly after the tragic event in 1815 or some years after the loss. Jane Otis Prior is documented at the school through a wood box painted with scenic views that she gifted to a schoolmate in 1822. Only two years later, she was in Richmond, Virginia, where she married Dr. Erastus Willey. After her death in 1884, Jane Otis Prior Willey was remembered as having \"educated herself as a teacher, and was a lady of fine accomplishments, a writer of verses for the Philadelphia Courier, and was much beloved by her step-children.\"Stacy C. Hollander, \"Mourning Piece for Captain Matthew Prior and His Son Barker Prior,\" exhibition copy for American Perspectives: Stories from the American Folk Art Museum Collection. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2020."]},"bibliography":{"label":"Bibliography","value":""},"collections":{"label":"Collections","value":["Textiles","Works on Paper","eMuseum - Collection Highlights"]},"geography":{"label":"Geography","value":["Bath","Portland"]},"id":{"label":"Id","value":"153617"},"geographyState":{"value":["Maine","Maine"]},"geographyCountry":{"value":["United States","United States"]},"onview":{"label":"On View","value":"0"},"people":{"label":"Artist / Maker","value":{"displayOrder":"1","personRole":"Artist","personID":"139","content":"Jane Otis Prior"}},"classifications":{"label":"Classification(s)","value":["Textiles","Drawings"]},"textEntries":{"label":"Text Entries","value":["Mourning","watercolor","Jane Gray Otis Prior may have been a boarder at the Misses Martin's School in Portland, Maine, when she painted this mourning piece. Mourning pieces gained favor as schoolgirl exercises in the early years of the nineteenth century, especially after the death of George Washington in 1799. Laden with symbolic imagery, they combined classical funerary elements, inspired by archaeological sites discovered in the middle of the eighteenth century, with Christian ideas of the good garden. Although some mourning pieces commemorated well-known literary and historical figures in the tradition of European antecedents, the art form was democratized in America to include personal tributes to family members or friends. The earliest American mourning pieces were usually needleworks executed in silk embroidery on silk, with watercolor sometimes used in the sky or to paint faces. This example was executed entirely in watercolor and ink on silk but retains the needlework aesthetic in short brushstrokes that simulate stitches.Jane Prior was one of four sisters of well-known portrait painter William Matthew Prior. Her mourning watercolor memorializes their father, Captain Mathew Prior (1774\u20131815), and their brother Barker (1799\u20131815), who were lost at sea. The monument sits in a garden setting with other family stones against a seascape with a departing ship. The text on the stone mourns the loss of these important family members who \"sailed from Bath for England...and have never been heard of since.\" Jane is also known for another schoolgirl exercise, a scenic painting on a box. It is not known when she moved to Richmond, but in 1824, Jane Gray Otis Prior \"of Richmond\" married Dr. Erastus Willey in St. John's Church in Henrico County, Virginia. Her husband died in 1859 and is buried in the North Church Cemetery, in Henrico County.Stacy C. Hollander, \"Mourning Piece for Captain Mathew Prior and His Son Barker,\" in American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 309. Object information is a work in progress and may be updated with new research. Records are reviewed and revised, and the American Folk Art Museum welcomes additional information.　To help improve this record, please email photoservices@folkartmuseum.org ","Jane Otis Prior was the sister of William Matthew Prior. She is thought to have attended Miss Martin's School in Portland, Maine where this watercolor may have been executed. She also painted a scenic box in the collection of Nina Fletcher Little for a friend. ","As the child of a Bath, Maine, sea captain, Jane Grey Otis Prior, older sister of celebrated artist William Matthew Prior, would have always known the long absences of her father and the uncertainty of his return from sea. Every family who stood on shore as their loved ones sailed into the horizon faced the same burden of doubt. In 1815, that eventuality occurred when her father, Captain Matthew Prior (1774\u20131815) and her sixteen-year-old brother Barker (1799\u20131815) were \"lost in the ocean,\" never to be seen again. Prior\u2019s schoolgirl mourning piece commemorates the calamitous loss of father and brother with a breathtaking economy of words: \"They sailed from Bath to England Novr 7, 1815 and have never been heard of since.\" These few words not only tersely reflect the incalculable tragedy of losing these significant family members, but the additional horror that their bodies most likely would never be recovered. Unlike mourning pieces in Europe, where the art form originated, mourning expressions were democratized in the newly formed United States, and Americans soon came to memorialize their own loved ones as well as historical and literary figures. This watercolor and ink on silk may have been painted while Jane boarded at the respected Portland school operated by the Misses Martins between 1803 and 1829. Here, according to contemporary sources, the \"English branches were taught, a little French, music, painting, and many kinds of fancy work, lace making and filigree, also geography with the use of globes.\" It is not known whether this mourning piece was composed shortly after the tragic event in 1815 or some years after the loss. Jane Otis Prior is documented at the school through a wood box painted with scenic views that she gifted to a schoolmate in 1822. Only two years later, she was in Richmond, Virginia, where she married Dr. Erastus Willey. After her death in 1884, Jane Otis Prior Willey was remembered as having \"educated herself as a teacher, and was a lady of fine accomplishments, a writer of verses for the Philadelphia Courier, and was much beloved by her step-children.\"Stacy C. Hollander, \"Mourning Piece for Captain Matthew Prior and His Son Barker Prior,\" exhibition copy for American Perspectives: Stories from the American Folk Art Museum Collection. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2020."]},"beginDate":{"label":"Begin Date","value":"1815"},"displayDate":{"label":"Date","value":"1815\u20131822"},"exhibitions":{"label":"Exhibitions","value":[{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Saturday, July 2, 2016 - Monday, September 19, 2016","exhibitionEndISODate":"2016-09-19","exhibitionID":"159","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"2016-07-02","exhibitionBeginDate":"2016","exhibitionTitle":"AMERICAN MADE","exhibitionEndDate":"2016"},{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Wednesday, June 20, 2012 - Sunday, October 7, 2012","exhibitionEndISODate":"2012-10-07","exhibitionID":"151","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"2012-06-20","exhibitionBeginDate":"2012","exhibitionTitle":"COMPASS: Folk Art in Four Directions","exhibitionEndDate":"2012"},{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Tuesday, February 11, 2020 - Sunday, January 3, 2021","exhibitionEndISODate":"2021-01-03","exhibitionID":"239","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"2020-02-11","exhibitionBeginDate":"2020","exhibitionTitle":"American Perspectives","exhibitionEndDate":"2021"},{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Saturday, May 22, 2021 - Sunday, October 8, 2023","exhibitionEndISODate":"2023-10-08","exhibitionID":"245","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"2021-05-22","exhibitionBeginDate":"2021","exhibitionTitle":"American Perspectives (Travel)","exhibitionEndDate":"2023"},{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"1993\u20132001","exhibitionEndISODate":"2001-10","exhibitionID":"64","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"1993-10-05","exhibitionBeginDate":"1993","exhibitionTitle":"America's Heritage","exhibitionEndDate":"2001"},{"exhibitionDisplayDate":"Thursday, July 11, 2002 - Sunday, January 5, 2003","exhibitionEndISODate":"2003-01-26","exhibitionID":"73","exhibitionISOBeginDate":"2002-07-11","exhibitionBeginDate":"2002","exhibitionTitle":"American Anthem","exhibitionEndDate":"2003"}]},"dimensions":{"label":"Dimensions","value":"13 5/8 x 17 3/8 \"Frame: 17 1/2 x 21 1/4 x 1 1/2 \""}}]}