Ogden Family Mourning Piece1813Frame: 29 x 36 1/8 x 2 " (73.7 x 91.8 x 5.1 cm)Watercolor and ink on silk, with original reverse-painted eglomisé mat in original gilded wood frameGift of Ralph Esmerian2013.1.4201547774004P1.2001.270Ellen OgdenPaintingsThe American Folk Art Museum believes this work to be in the public domain.LitchfieldLitchfieldUnited StatesConnecticutWorks on PapereMuseum - Collection HighlightsPaintingsLitchfieldfurther research points to life dates of 1801-1876 for Ellen Odgen Silliman. See Findagrave. Father Sturges Ogden was a Revolutionary War veteran; see CT pension records for a description of his involvement. Jacobus and Curry, Rev. War Records of Farifield, CT, 2004, pp. 240-241.Ellen Ogden's mourning piece belongs to a group of ten similar memorials and is the only one with the date of execution inscribed on the glass mat of its original frame. Eight of these paintings have been published, and seven of the nine schoolgirls who painted them lived in three Connecticut towns. Ellen Ogden, Julia Ann Burr (1800–1819), and Sarah Turney (1801–?), who painted two pieces, were from Fairfield; Ruth Norton Upson (1795–1874) and Betsey Catlin (1799–1893) were from Bristol; and Sally Miller (c. 1783–?) and Delia Coe (1799–1846) were from Middletown. Positive identification is lacking for girls who painted pieces dedicated to McQueen family members of Branford, Connecticut, and to members of an unlocated Gilbert family.
The descendants of Betsey Catlin and Delia Coe left convincing evidence that their memorials were painted while the girls were students at Sarah Pierce's Female Academy in Litchfield, Connecticut. Miss Pierce's renowned school existed from 1792 until 1833 and attracted more than three thousand students from throughout America and even farther afield. Unfortunately, complete enrollment records have not survived, although similar memorials are attributed to her school because of documented examples. Miss Pierce is known to have had various unrecorded assistants who taught ornamental arts. Consequently the woman responsible for these impressive compositions remains unknown, and whether or not similar pieces were created under her instruction elsewhere is undetermined.
On nine of the related memorials, the mourners vary in number from six to twelve, but Ellen Ogden pictured only herself and her parents, for her painting commemorates the deaths of her six siblings—one older sister and five younger brothers. Ellen was the daughter of Sturges Ogden (1762–1835) and Zoa Thorp (1763–1832), of Fairfield. She married Ebenezer Silliman (1789–1864). They are both buried close to Ellen's parents and siblings in Fairfield's Greenfield Hill Cemetery. No evidence that they had children has been found.
Betty Ring, "Ogden Family Mourning Piece," in Stacy C. Hollander, American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 506-7.Ellen Ogden’s memorial mourning piece is one of ten similar works but the only example in which the date of execution is inscribed on the églomisé mat in its original frame. The term églomisé comes from the name of eighteenth-century French framemaker and printseller Jean-Baptiste Glomy, who revitalized an ancient technique to apply gilt and color bordered by black paint to the reverse side of glass in order to protect prints and watercolors.
Lee Kogan, "Ogden Family Mourning Piece," exhibition label for FOILED: Tinsel Painting in America. Lee Kogan, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2012–2013P1.2001.27018131813 2013 1 42 further research points to life dates of 1801-1876 for Ellen Odgen Silliman. See Findagrave. Father Sturges Ogden was a Revolutionary War veteran; see CT pension records for a description of his involvement. Jacobus and Curry, Rev. War Records of Farifield, CT, 2004, pp. 240-241.Ellen Ogden's mourning piece belongs to a group of ten similar memorials and is the only one with the date of execution inscribed on the glass mat of its original frame. Eight of these paintings have been published, and seven of the nine schoolgirls who painted them lived in three Connecticut towns. Ellen Ogden, Julia Ann Burr (1800–1819), and Sarah Turney (1801–?), who painted two pieces, were from Fairfield; Ruth Norton Upson (1795–1874) and Betsey Catlin (1799–1893) were from Bristol; and Sally Miller (c. 1783–?) and Delia Coe (1799–1846) were from Middletown. Positive identification is lacking for girls who painted pieces dedicated to McQueen family members of Branford, Connecticut, and to members of an unlocated Gilbert family.
The descendants of Betsey Catlin and Delia Coe left convincing evidence that their memorials were painted while the girls were students at Sarah Pierce's Female Academy in Litchfield, Connecticut. Miss Pierce's renowned school existed from 1792 until 1833 and attracted more than three thousand students from throughout America and even farther afield. Unfortunately, complete enrollment records have not survived, although similar memorials are attributed to her school because of documented examples. Miss Pierce is known to have had various unrecorded assistants who taught ornamental arts. Consequently the woman responsible for these impressive compositions remains unknown, and whether or not similar pieces were created under her instruction elsewhere is undetermined.
On nine of the related memorials, the mourners vary in number from six to twelve, but Ellen Ogden pictured only herself and her parents, for her painting commemorates the deaths of her six siblings—one older sister and five younger brothers. Ellen was the daughter of Sturges Ogden (1762–1835) and Zoa Thorp (1763–1832), of Fairfield. She married Ebenezer Silliman (1789–1864). They are both buried close to Ellen's parents and siblings in Fairfield's Greenfield Hill Cemetery. No evidence that they had children has been found.
Betty Ring, "Ogden Family Mourning Piece," in Stacy C. Hollander, American Radiance: The Ralph Esmerian Gift to the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 506-7.Ellen Ogden’s memorial mourning piece is one of ten similar works but the only example in which the date of execution is inscribed on the églomisé mat in its original frame. The term églomisé comes from the name of eighteenth-century French framemaker and printseller Jean-Baptiste Glomy, who revitalized an ancient technique to apply gilt and color bordered by black paint to the reverse side of glass in order to protect prints and watercolors.
Lee Kogan, "Ogden Family Mourning Piece," exhibition label for FOILED: Tinsel Painting in America. Lee Kogan, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2012–2013