Needlework as art (1886) (14595493320)

Identifier: needleworkasart00alfo (find matches)
Title: Needlework as art
Year: 1886 (1880s)
Authors: Alford, Marianne Margaret Compton Cust, Viscountess, 1817-1888
Subjects: Embroidery Needlework
Publisher: London, S. Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington
Contributing Library: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library



Text Appearing Before Image:
ounded padded work (a caricature ofthe raised embroidery of the opus Anglicanum) is often erroneouslyawarded to the nuns of Little Gidding. The earliest specimens weknow of this embroidery on the stamp are German. At Coire in theGrisons, at Zurich (see chapter on ecclesiastical art), and in the NationalMuseum at Munich are some very beautiful examples. The Italians alsoexecuted elaborate little pictures in this manner; but I cannot praise ithowever refined in execution or beautiful the design. I have seen noEnglish specimens that are not beneath criticism ; they are only funny. - In the Calendar of the State Papers Office (Domestic, Charles I.,vol. clxix. p. 12), Mrs. H. Senior sues the Earl of Thomond for ^200per annum, her pay for teaching his daughter needlework. Mrs. Hut-chinson, in her Memoir, says she had eight tutors when she was sevenyears old, and one of them taught her needlework. This shows howhighly this accomplishment was still considered in the days of Charles I. PI. 84.
Text Appearing After Image:
English embroidered curtain (James I.), at Cockayne Hatley, Beds. Page 390. English Embroidery. 391 The other fashionable work of that day had its merits. Itwas the custom to embroider hangings or linen in crewels.Considering how often in this book and my precedinglectures I have said that this style of work was common(even in the early days of Egypt and Assyria), it maywell be said, when was it not the fashion ? and I mustanswer, only since the days of Queen Anne. It seemsas if before that time our designs for work were partiallyinfluenced by the fine Indian specimens which hadsurreptitiously crept into England. Some of these arevery cleverly executed. Huge conventional trees growfrom a green strip of earth carrying every variety of leafand flower done in many stitches. The individual leafor flower is often very beautiful. On the bank below,small deer and lions disport themselves, and birds twicetheir size perch on the branches (plate 84).1 But evenwhere the work is finest, the incon