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CORNELIA, MOTHER OF THE GRACCHI Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi, was a popular subject for young New England ladies to embroider. The embroidery
depicts a second-century BC Roman matron, Cornelia, a widowed mother of three children, that had a reputation for
goodness and wisdom. A rich woman is showing Cornelia her box of jewels and then asked to see hers. Cornelia pointed
to her children and said "These are my jewels". Her young boys grew up to be exemplary statesmen, responsible
for many social reforms that benefitted the common man of that era.. Several embroidered pictures of this subject
from different schools were based on an engraving entitled Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi by Francesco Bartolozzi
(1729-1815), published in London in 1788. Bartolozzi's engraving was from a 1785 painting by Angelica Kauffman
(1741-1807)
STEPHEN & CAROL HUBER |
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