Samplers and Tapestry Embroideries, by Marcus B. Huish, (published 1913, this edition 1990); the V&A's Samplers, by Donald King, 1960; and Samplers, Five Centuries of a Gentle Craft by Anne Sebba, 1979. All three have been interesting works, and, though I haven't been able to read them cover-to-cover just yet, the title given to the third volume especially peaked my interest. I've been wondering lately about doing a project that involves elements of samplers. I was fortunate enough to win an auction on two large tapestry frames recently, at 60cm square of stitching space, and am quite keen to adapt them to work as a kind of manual loom. I've also been given a good few kilometres of Aran wool, and am hoping to make a large scale project by combining the two - perhaps a throw, or a bedcover. This wool is very thick, and I don't think it would take an unreasonable amount of time to make nine frame-fuls of wool, thereby learning about the weaving technique, and practice some drawn-thread embroidery, sampler-like, across it's width, before sewing it together and edging it. It was partly with this outlandish idea in mind that I bookmarked some of my favourite (though, I'm sure, far too intricate for this project) pieces to work from, should an exercise involving samplers arise. Again, there are a few examples from the V&A, and some others that are frustratingly anonymous, due to the vague publishing style that existed in 1913. So I present a second little gallery - with notes to myself accompanying.
Firstly, this 16th century Italian sampler:
Filled with coloured blackwork stitching (blackwork, as most books won't tell you, and as I need to remember, being the style of stitching, and nothing at all to do with being made only in black. This sampler reminds me that even in such strict times as the years this must have been worked, all techniques had to be learnt. Yes, learnt from a very young age, so that finished products would rarely feature mistakes or visible un-pickings, but slowly, painstakingly, and untidily, learnt. I needn't think that because an artwork isn't on paper, I can't 'sketch' before trying an idea on a bigger scale.
Next, this (also Italian) sampler, probably from the first half of the 17th century- mostly cut and drawn work. If I remember rightly, the Italian method of cutwork, where threads are removed, leaving only a few to anchor a geometrical pattern, is called 'Punto in Aria' which means something like 'work in air' or 'stitches in air', or in one book that I'm rather sceptical about, 'something from nothing'. Perhaps that was the motto of the stitchers, rather than the name of the work. I've always tended to call it the more time-specific name, 'reticella', which is not a term applied to modern lace, unlike 'punto in aria'. This kind of lace is one of my favourites - because it's featured so prominently in the portraits of the time.
.jpg)
Take this portrait detail, for example. This is Elizabeth, Duchess of Kellie, By Paul (or Paulus) van Somer. It dates from 1619, roughly the same date as the sampler above. As you can see, it contains three different kinds of 'punto in aria'. The wide collar band, the edging for the smock(?), and one piece mounted on the black of her underclothing. A close-up of the lace sampler I've been talking about is available from the V&A, and is shown here alongside a close-up of this painting, and one taken from a scan from my own copy of Federico de Vinciolo's Les Singuliers et Nouveaux Pourtaicts, 1587 (obviously, my copy is a facsimile). Similar motifs are circled in red and green.
This similarity in dress across Europe is a testament to the power of the printing press! Here is a painting of an English lady, living in Scotland, painted by a Flemish (probably Dutch) painter, which shows a striking similarity to a sampler from Italy and a diagram from a book published in France.
I would love to be able to work a sampler like this one, but it's so difficult to judge the scale, or to know what scale to start learning a craft like this one. I've done a few samplers before in crochet cotton that incorporate elements of needle-lace, though only as fine as No. 20 cotton. Again, these are only notes, so there's no need to publish a finished idea here - unless I decide to do some lace-based prints for this section.
Thirdly, this late 17th century British sampler, which can be dated definitely to 1696. It's an interesting one, not only because the colours have kept so well, but because of the mixture of techniques. As you can see, it's partly the same Italian-style (now old-fashioned) cut and drawn work at the top, then some white-work, then a length of beautifully coloured naïve style embroidery. It's difficult to discern the stitches, however. My interest in this one is less in the more popular section of the piece, the surprisingly bold colours, more the evolution in reticella technique. Here's a close-up:
The geometric roots are still obvious, but in the 'wheels', particularly the centre one, the finished piece is far denser, less 'airy'. I'm still very impressed with the slanted stitching that fills that motif, though - the 'feathers' are very unusual. If I go down this road with printing, I think I'll be more likely to look at a piece like this one, and less like the second example in this post. I've never printed before, and I've got to go easy on myself! Perhaps I can print the main motifs, and paint in the 'bars' and 'picots'? More on this topic later.
No comments:
Post a Comment