Quaker Settlement Series 2

Gone too soon

MichaelStephenWills

Joseph P. Lee, a middle aged gentleman with carvings of a mature willow flanked by urns. In the intervening 162 years the upper layers of slate flake at the edges.

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  • Born June 6, 1799 Died June 22, 1857 Lived 58 years and 16 Days

Rhoda Ann Mattison, a wife who died too young. What was the relationship of James and Rhoda to Catherine and John?

  • Rhoda Ann Mattison
    Born October 14, 1794 Diet April 8, 1822 Lived 27 years 5 months 20 days. Wife of James Mattison

The carving is a pineapple (for hospitality) set in a elegant vase on a plinth flanked by ionic columns, a simple arch (banded to imply a rainbow?) surmounts all. Cross hatching implies space. An implied eternal banding of stylized leaves as starbursts.

I brought out the characteristic slate coloring. There is evidence of ware from the intervening 197 years, though the carving is surprising crisp.

  • Rhoda Ann, detail

Slideshow of photographs in this series

  • Catherine A. and John Mattison
    Catherine A. Mattison Born 1792/1793, Death March 13, 1815. Lived 22 years. John Mattison, Death December 2, 1831, Born August 15, 1815 (5 months after Catherine’s Death), Lived 15 years, 3 months and 18 days.

Copyright 2019 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

14 thoughts on “Quaker Settlement Series 2”

  1. Despite being cemeteries, the tombs have their natural charm for the eyes of the artists. And if they are old, even more. His series tells us a story about a very distant past. The messages are the traces of a story left on the tombstones and that his camera makes us arrive with his magnificent photographs.

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