O Sweet Humility Eliza Townsend 1835 - Reproduction Sampler Pattern by Cross Stitch Antiques

Model: 40 count Vintage Pecan Butter by Lakeside Linens
Floss:  Needlepoint Ink Silks (NPI)     

Stitch Count:  259 wide x 265 high 
Original Size: 32 count linen with cotton threads over two with hemstitched edges
Stitches used: cross stitch over two, satin stich, cross stitch over one for verse, name, and birds
Conversion to DMC and 100/3 silks provided

Provenance: With nothing but a name and date, no personal information could be discovered about the stitcher of this vibrant sampler but it is probable she was an English girl. This can be surmised due to her name, the mirrored images of the motifs flanking the moralistic verse, the large red building, and the lower pastoraL scene of a bucolic country hillside which had come into vogue in the early 1800s based on the period of Romanticism (1798-1837). An ideal landscape is depicted where peace reigns among man and God’s creatures and all is in harmony with God’s plan. The large red edifice rises from the lawn and takes center stage, perhaps a church as depicted by the multiple crosses on the dual steeples.

“O sweet humility can words impart. How much I love thee how divine thou art.
Nurse us not only in our infant age. Conduct us still through each successive stage. Of varying life lead us from youth’s gay prime. To the last step of man’s appointed time. Eliza Townsend’s Work 1835”