Solidly Stitched Solomon’s Temple Sampler,

The first decades of the 19th century saw a strong interest in the architecture of Solomon’s Temple from the biblical story, and this subject appears on English schoolgirl samplers of the period. Louisa Walmsley’s sampler is unusual in two respects – it’s quite large, with the graphic, detailed depiction of the Temple filling up most of the space, and it’s solidly stitched. All of the background was worked in beige stiches giving a wonderful texture to the sampler. It is signed along the bottom, “Louisa Walmsley A Representation of Solomon’s Temple anno Domini, 1831.” 

Stitched along the top of the sampler is, "But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy Mercy and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy Temple,” from Psalm 5:7 and, “Upon that fine building no hammer did sound,” from Kings 6:7. A pair of angles, stitched in an extremely tight scale, float above the Temple and the border that surrounds it on four sides frames the composition beautifully. 

The samplermaker was most likely the daughter of John and Isabella (Busby) Walmsley, born 1818 in Preston, Lancashire. She married Richard Barker, and they remained in Preston where he worked as a cotton spinner and they had several children. 

The sampler was worked in wool and silk on linen. It is in excellent condition and has been conservation mounted into a figured maple frame with a gilt liner.