Portrait of Mary M. Arendell

Date1832

Artist Martha Ann Honeywell (ca. 1794-after 1847)

MediumCut wove paper, ink, watercolor, thread, and gold paint

DimensionsPrimary Support: 4 1/16 x 3 1/16in. (10.3 x 7.8cm) and Framed: 4 15/16 x 3 7/8in.

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1976.306.5

Label TextMartha Ann Honeywell, born in Lempster, New Hampshire, was quite celebrated in her day, not so much for the artistic quality of her cut profiles and embroideries as for the fact that she was able to create them at all. She was born without hands or lower arms and with just one foot, which had only three toes. Using her mouth, the stumps of her arms, and her toes, Honeywell also cut watchpapers and wrote out pious verses as part of a public performance that she traveled to various ‚ cities in an effort to support herself. The Center's cut-and-pasted profile of Mary M. Arendell is inscribed "Cut by M. Honeywell with the Mouth"; other Honeywell images are inscribed "Cut without Hands" or "Cut with the lips." The decorative paper mat on this piece is believed to have been made by the artist as well; such framing devices would have provided a logical and attractive finishing touch to the simple side view portraits created by this astonishing and ‚ determined woman.
InscribedIn ink in script beneath the profile is "Cut by M. Honeywell with the Mouth," and below, hand-lettered in ink on the lower edge of the mat, is "Mary M. Arendell: Sept 20 (or 25?). 1832." In ink in script on the frame's wood backing is "Mary arendell." Also, in ink script on a separate piece of paper originally folded and used as backing in the frame is sixteen-line poem titled "Lines written on a retrospective view of my native Home" that is signed "David M Rogers." There is no apparent association between the context of the poem and the profile.
ProvenancePaul Elam, Louisburg, NC