Title in Caroline Armington’s etching record book: Sainte Chapelle, for Miss Jessie Tilney

Year: 1928

Number: 418

Size:

States: 1

Title on Print: Sainte Chapelle, Paris

Initials or Signature and Date in Plate: C. Armington 1928 l.l.

Planned Edition: unlimited

Total Number of Impressions: 200 plus more?

Number in Pencil: not numbered.

Signature in Pencil: Caroline Armington

Dedication:

Caroline Armington’s etching record book contains the following notes for this print:

1st state

200 prints

200 prints for Mrs. James Porter Fiske

Plate for Miss Tilney 1930

Unlimited number to be taken

Plate exchanged for prints returned to me

79, 33, 25, 24, 21, 32, 17

Price in Caroline Armington’s etching record book: none.

Plate:

Collections:

PAMA

Agnes Etherington Art Centre; Queen's University, Kingston, ON

Exhibitions:

Publications:

Comments:

Caroline Armington made specifically two prints for Jessie Mason Tilney (CA-418 and CA-450).

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Born in Brooklyn, Kings, New York, USA on 15 December 1883 to Robert F. Tilney and Mary M. Mason. She passed away on 1 December 1960 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.

She belonged to a wealthy, well-connected East Coast family.

Jessie Mason Tilney married Mr. Henry Dickson Valentine on September 19, 1931. Henry was a prominent New York attorney. Like Jessie, he came from a well-established family and was a graduate of Columbia University.

The couple shared an interest in the arts and high-society philanthropy.

Jessie Mason Tilney lived in Paris for a portion of her life (from 1925 to 1931).

She donated a stained window to the AMERICAN CHURCH OF PARIS.

Later in life, Jessie donated many valuable family heirlooms, 19th-century art pieces, and antique furniture to prestigious northeastern institutions. Notably to the New Hampshire Historical Society, to the Yale University Art Gallery, to the Brooklyn Museum and to The Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

 

She frequently appeared in early 20th-century New York social registers. In 1939, she was an active committee member alongside high-profile figures (including President Franklin D. Roosevelt's mother, Sara Roosevelt) in a prominent charitable drive supporting European Christian refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. She also spent time abroad and was admitted into exclusive transatlantic circles like the France-Amérique committee in Paris.

 

 

Mrs. James Porter Fiske was Amy Treadwell Fiske (1873–1967), a prominent American high-society figure, expatriate, and philanthropist.

Like her close friend Miss Jessie Tilney, she was a fixture of the transatlantic social circuit, splitting her time between New York and the elite American expat community in Paris during the 1920s and 1930s.

She was born Amy Treadwell in Albany, New York. She came from a highly distinguished, wealthy family.

Her father was Major George Hooker Treadwell, a prominent Civil War veteran, manufacturer, and civic leader.

On June 14, 1906, Amy married Dr. James Porter Fiske at a high-profile society wedding in Albany. Dr. Fiske was a brilliant, Columbia University-educated orthopedic surgeon who worked at Roosevelt Hospital in New York and served as a medical officer during World War I.

Following WWI, Dr. and Mrs. Fiske spent extensive periods living abroad in France. In Paris, Amy became a leading figure among American expatriates:

Her high social standing gave her the authority to sponsor other elite Americans into the exclusive cultural diplomacy club. In September 1928, she used her influence to formally present and induct her friend, Miss Jessie Tilney.

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