Susanna Perwich
Susanna Perwich (c. 1636 – 1661) was an English music teacher and embroiderer. She is known from a pamphlet written by her brother-in-law on the event of her early death, which celebrates her virtues as an example for other young women to follow. Noted in the pamphlet as a skilled embroiderer, she has been proposed as the creator of a seventeenth-century embroidered cabinet now held by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Life
[edit]She was one of at least six daughters of Robert Perwich and his wife Mary, who from 1643 ran a school for girls in Hackney. Susanna was taught at the school, and later became leader of the school’s orchestra and a teacher there herself.[1][2] A highly regarded musician, she apparently performed for international audiences of music masters.[3]
After the sudden death of her fiancé, Susanna became increasingly devoted to prayer, pious pursuits and study of the Bible, turning down several further marriage proposals.[4][5]
Susanna died on 3 July 1661 of an illness she contracted after sleeping on damp bed-linens at a friend’s house. At her request, her funeral was attended only by women.[6][7]
Skills and education
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The school where Susanna studied and taught had a curriculum including the performing arts, including 'romance reading'; handicrafts and calligraphy; and domestic skills such as accountancy and cookery. Batchiler’s description of her education and teachers has been seen as a defence of the practice of educating girls outside the home.[8]
Susanna was taught tuning and musical notation, and had a viol teacher for the last seven years of her life.[9] Her favourite pastime was 'playing divisions on a ground' (that is, a viol), but she was also proficient on the harpsichord and lute and a skilled singer, dancer and composer.[10]
Batchiler also praises Susanna’s skill at needlework.[3] Based on the Perwich coat of arms appearing on it, Rosner suggests that Susanna may be the creator of an elaborate embroidered cabinet which employs the labour-intensive 'queen stitch' and depicts the rarely-embroidered biblical story of Ruth.[11]
References
[edit]- ^ Larsen, Anne R. (2016-04-14). Anna Maria van Schurman, 'The Star of Utrecht': The Educational Vision and Reception of a Savante. Routledge. p. 255. ISBN 978-1-317-18070-8.
- ^ Batchiler, John (1661). The Virgins Pattern. pp. 1–3.
- ^ a b Batchiler (1661), p. 7.
- ^ Batchiler (1661), pp. 9–30.
- ^ Levin, Carole; Bertolet, Anna Riehl; Carney, Jo Eldridge (2016-11-03). A Biographical Encyclopedia of Early Modern Englishwomen: Exemplary Lives and Memorable Acts, 1500-1650. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-44070-5.
- ^ Hays, Mary (1803). Female biography; or, Memoirs of illustrious and celebrated women, of all ages and countries. Alphabetically arranged. University of California Libraries. London : Printed for Richard Phillips. pp. 51–3.
- ^ Batchiler (1661), pp. 31–6.
- ^ Winkler, Amanda Eubanks (2020-06-04). Music, Dance, and Drama in Early Modern English Schools. Cambridge University Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-1-108-85996-7.
- ^ Batchiler (1661), p. 3.
- ^ Batchiler (1661), pp. 3–7.
- ^ Rosner, Isabella (2018-07-03). "'A Cunning Skill Did Lurk': Susanna Perwich and the Mysteries of a Seventeenth-Century Needlework Cabinet". Textile History. 49 (2): 140–163. doi:10.1080/00404969.2018.1509436. ISSN 0040-4969.
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