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Illumination from the MS. Harleian 1319 : Scenes from Richard II’s Campaign in Ireland—1. Conference of the Earl of Gloucester and an Irish Chief, from the series, Examples of Illumination and Heraldry, Federal Public Works of Art Project, Region #16, Washington

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Illumination from the MS. Harleian 1319 : Scenes from Richard II’s Campaign in Ireland—1. Conference of the Earl of Gloucester and an Irish Chief, from the series, Examples of Illumination and Heraldry, Federal Public Works of Art Project, Region #16, Washington

1934 or 1935

Theodora Harrison

born Ireland, 1890; died Dublin, 1969. Active in Seattle, Washington, 1929-1951

These exquisite illuminations are replicas of famous illuminated manuscript all created by Seattle artist Theodora Lawrenson Harrison, who was internationally renowned as both a scholar of medieval manuscript illumination and a master illuminator herself. The Irish-born Harrison was an eminent figure in Northwest Art, a president of Women Painters of Washington, and a founder of the art gallery at Frederick and Nelson department store. But she was also internationally renowned as an illuminator and creator of armorial design. Commissions came from such high places as the royal offices of Britain’s King George VI. Harrison was commissioned to create the Seattle Art Museum coat of arms in 1934.
These were presented to SAM by the Federal Public Works of Art Project in 1934 or 1935. Subsidizing Harrison’s study and documentation of medieval manuscript illumination is the kind of work that the P.W.A.P. particularly valued—this effort is akin to the studies of artistic traditions that other renderers recorded for posterity as part of the P.W.A.P.’s monumental Index of American Design.

Ink and watercolor on simulated vellum
Sheet size: 7 7/8 x 19 in
Mount: 12 x 14 5/8 in. x 3/8 in.
Federal Public Works of Art Project, Region #16, Washington State
2013.6.6
Provenance: Presented by Federal Public Works of Art Project, Region #16, Washington State, 1934 or 1935
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
location
Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryForgotten Stories: Northwest Public Art of the 1930s, February 22 – October 18, 2020 (did not travel to Willamette, Oregon, Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette College, November 21, 2020 – March 28, 2021)

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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