About this artwork
In the foreground of this pictorial quilt, a young girl sits on a grassy hillside reading a book. The cover bears the initials RLS, which refer to the poet Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote the stanza embroidered in the sky above the landscape. The stanza is from the poem “Travel,” which appeared in Stevenson’s 1885 collection A Child’s Garden of Verses. The embroidered stanza reads:
I should like to rise and go
Where the golden apples grow
Where in sunshine reaching out
Eastern cities miles about
Are with mosque and minaret
Among sandy gardens set.
Stevenson’s poem invites the young reader to imagine places—as does the quilt, with its depiction of a city in the distance.
—Making Memories: Quilts as Souvenirs, October 20, 2017-April 1, 2018
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Textiles
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Artist
- Elizabeth Wells Robertson
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Title
- Travel (Child's Crib Quilt)
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Place
- United States (Object made in)
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Date
- Made 1940–1960
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Medium
- Appliquéd and embroidered quilt; dyed and undyed cotton plain weave fabrics; cotton embroidery threads
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Inscriptions
- Inscription (In white needlework): I should like to rise and go Where the golden apples grow Where in sunshine reaching out Eastern cities miles about Are with mosque and minaret Among sandy gardens set."
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Dimensions
- 196.2 × 129.2 cm (77 1/4 × 50 7/8 in.)
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Credit Line
- Gift of Mrs. George H. Beith
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Reference Number
- 1967.665
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
