embroidered with figures of St Peter and St Eloy, may be regarded
as representative of 14th-century work. An altar-frontal with
the Annunciation embroidered in silks and gold and silver upon
a blue silk damask ground, now in the museum at Lille, is a very
beautiful example of Franco-Flemish art in the second half of
the 15th century. It was originally in the church at Noyelles-lez-Seclin.
An embroidery more characteristically French, and
belonging to the same century, is in the museum at Chartres.
It is a triptych, having in the middle a pietà, on the left wing St
John the Evangelist, and on the right St Catherine of Alexandria.
Each leaf has a canopy of architecture represented in perspective.
In the 16th century an effective style of embroidery was practised
in France; the pattern is generally a graceful combination of
floral and scroll forms, cut out of velvet, satin or silk, and
applied to a thick woollen cloth. Later work, chiefly of a floral
character, has served for the decoration of costumes, ecclesiastical
vestments, curtains and hangings, and the seats and backs of
chairs.
 |
| Fig. 5.—Oval picture in silk embroidery: Fame scattering Flowers over Shakespeare’s Tomb. English work of the 18th century. |
Under the rule of the dukes of Burgundy in the 15th century art in the southern provinces of the Netherlands prospered greatly, and able artists were found to meet the wishes of those munificent rulers. The local schools of painting, which flourished under their patronage, appear to have very considerably influenced the embroiderers’ art. Great care and pains were given to reproduce as accurately as possible the painted cartoon or picture which served as the model. The heads are individualized, and the folds of the draperies are laboriously worked out in detail. The masonry of buildings, the veinings of marble, and the architectural enrichments are often represented with careful fidelity, and landscape backgrounds are shown in every detail. As in the case of the tapestries of the Netherlands—the finest which the world has seen—there can be no doubt that patrons of art and donors, when requiring embroideries to be made, secured the services of eminent painters for the designs. There are many examples of such careful work. A set of vestments known as the ornement de la Toison d’Or, now in the Hof-museum at Vienna, is embroidered in the most minute manner with sacred subjects and figures of saints and angels. The stiff disposal of many of these figures, within flattened hexagons arranged in zones, is not pleasing, but the needlework is most remarkable for skill and carefulness. They are of 15th-century work. A cope belonging to the second half of that century was given to the cathedral of Tournay by Guillaume Fillatre, abbot of St Bertin at St Omer, and bishop of Tournay (d. 1473). It is now in the museum there. Upon the orphreys and hood are represented the seven Works of Mercy. The body of the cope, of plain red velvet, is powdered with stags’ heads and martlets (the heraldic bearings of the bishop); between the antlers of the stags is worked in each case the initial letter of the bishop’s name, and the morse is embroidered with his arms. Some panels of embroidery, once decorating an altar in the abbey of Grimbergen, and now at Brussels, illustrate the best class of Flemish needlework in the 16th century. The scenes are taken from the Gospel: the marriage at Cana, Christ in the house of the Pharisee, Christ in the house of Zacchaeus, the Last Supper, and the supper at Emmaus. In the museum at Bern there are some embroideries of great historic and artistic interest, found in the tent of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, after his defeat at Granson in 1476. They include some armorial panels and two tabards or heralds’ coats. A tabard of the following century, with the royal arms of Spain in applied work, and most probably of Flemish origin, is preserved in the archaeological museum at Ghent.
The later art of Holland was largely influenced by the Dutch conquests in the East Indies at the end of the 16th century, and the subsequent founding of the Dutch East India Company. Embroideries were among the articles produced in the East under Dutch influence for exportation to Holland.
Much embroidery for ecclesiastical purposes has been executed in Belgium of late years. It follows medieval models, but is lacking in the qualities which make those of so much importance in the history of the art.
There is perhaps little worthy of special notice in Italy before the beginning of the 14th century, but the embroideries produced at that time show great skill and are very beautiful. The names of two Florentine embroiderers of the 14th century—both men—have come down to us, inscribed upon their handiwork. A fine frontal for an altar, very delicately worked in gold and silver and silks of many colours, is preserved in the archaeological museum at Florence. The subject in the middle is the coronation of the Virgin; on either side is an arcade with figures of apostles and saints. The embroiderer’s name is worked under the central subject: Jacobus Cambi de Florētia me fecit MCCCXXXVIII. The other example is in the basilica at Manresa in Spain. It also is an altar-frontal, worked in silk and gold upon an embroidered gold ground. There is a large central panel representing the Crucifixion, with nine scenes from the Gospel on each side. The embroidered inscription is as follows: Geri Lapi rachamatore me fecit in Florentia. It is of 14th-century work. An embroidered orphrey in the Victoria and Albert Museum belongs to the early part of the same century. It represents the Annunciation, the coronation of the Virgin and figures of apostles and saints beneath arches. In the spandrels are the orders of angels with their names in Italian. In the best period of Italian art successful painters did not disdain to design for embroidery. Francesco Squarcione (1394–1474), the founder of the Paduan school of painting, and master of Mantegna, is called in a document of the year 1423 a tailor and embroiderer (sartor et recamator). It is recorded that Antonio del Pollaiuolo painted cartoons which were carried out in embroidery,[1] and Pierino del Vaga, according to Vasari, did likewise. In the 16th and 17th centuries large numbers of towels and linen covers were embroidered in red, green or brown silk with borders of floral patterns, sometimes (especially in the southern provinces) combined with figure subjects and bird and animal forms (Plate IV. fig. 15). Another type of embroidery popular at the same time, both in Italy and Spain, is known as appliqué (or applied) work. The pattern is cut out and applied to a bright-coloured ground, frequently of velvet, as in the example illustrated (Plate III. fig. 14). The later embroidery of Sicily follows that of the mainland. A remarkable coverlet, quilted and padded with wool so as to throw the design into relief, is shown to be of Sicilian origin by the inscriptions which it bears
- ↑ Some embroideries from vestments, designed by Pollaiuolo, are still preserved in the Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo, Florence.
