Cut-paper Card with The Lord's Prayer 1825 - 1835

This cut-paper card with The Lord's Prayer was made by Martha Anne Honeywell, an American artist, in the late 18th or early 19th century. It features a symmetrical design of delicate paper cuttings, with the prayer inscribed in the center. This artwork speaks to the intersection of religion, art, and social identity in early America. Martha Anne Honeywell was born without hands or feet and made a career out of her artwork. This context invites us to consider the social conditions that shaped artistic production at this time, particularly for women and disabled people. The prayer may be a sign of personal devotion. But it also could be a tool to signal respectability, which was essential to Honeywell's career as a traveling artist and entertainer. As art historians, we must look at the full context surrounding the creation and reception of such an artwork, consulting a range of sources to better understand its meaning. The meaning of this artwork is contingent on its historical context and the social norms of its time.