Siena

Today is one of the two days in the year that Siena hosts the Palio, a 90 second horserace, held on July 2 and August 16 every year. The Contrada of the Selva won!!!


Siena is broken up into 17 Contradas or neighbourhoods. (See my other post for more) When I lived in Siena in 1998 and 1999, my apartment was in the Selva Contrada, my kitchen window faced into the Selva's headquarters and was right above the stall where they kept their horse in the days leading up to the Palio.

The Selva [Forest] is represented on their flag by a rhinoceros under an oak tree and their colours are green and orange. Picture above is an old postcard (1950s?) depicting the costume of the flag bearer [alfieri] and the flag of the Selva. All decoration on the costume would have been needlework and appliqué.

For some more textile-related fun, here is a stamped cotton gown in the Selva's colours (last photo) designed by Emilio Pucci for his 1957 Palio Collection. For this collection, he also created headscarves, men's shirts styled after the Palio jockey's shirts with matching pants, cocktail and formal gowns for women.

Every so often the costumes for the Contrada's Palio activities get redesigned. If you can make an appointment to view the museums of the Contradas (each one has it's own) some have various retired examples on display. Many costumes have silk and goldwork embroidery.

In 1904 Siena hosted the exposition Arte Antica Senese for which all Palio costumes were redesigned for the opening ceremonies inaugurated by the King and Queen of Italy on April 17th of 1904. That year there was an extra Palio race on that day to celebrate.

Here is a commemorative postcard with a depiction of another Contrada's (L'Oca - the Goose) alfiero:


The redesign of the costumes in 1904 was to reflect the Sienese Renaissance years (1450-1520) and was linked to the exhibition which covered Sienese Art between the years of 1250 and 1555.

There are photos of some lace works exhibited in Siena in 1904 in Elisa Ricci's book Old Italian Lace (1913) like this 16th century tablecloth:


Elisa Ricci wrote an article for the Italian art publication Emporium in August of 1904 on the fabrics and laces of the exposition in Siena. She wrote as only someone who was there could write, full of appreciation and wonder for the beautiful things she saw. She delights in listening to two scholars argue over the age of a particular piece; in the beauty of the works of devotion carefully preserved over centuries; in the luxury of the two-pile velvets and in the early examples of bobbin laces from Milan, Venice and Genoa.

Her particular favourite piece is a collar of needle lace with a musical theme which she speculates must have been destined for a great singer. The lower section is a kind of bas-relief of satyrs and monsters blowing trumpets. The design of this part is attributed to a 16th century artist (not named) and Elisa says that the excellence of execution by the lacemaker challenges the skill of a goldsmith or miniaturist. The middle section holds a row of dancing figures, each enclosed in an architectural niche and dressed in sumptuous Spanish-style dress. In the top points are musical instruments: harps, violas and trumpets in the guise of trophies. "And in the extraordinary minuteness and richness of design, not one line is misplaced, everything is clear, precise, fresh. What eyes, what a needle, what thread, what patience, what love there is in this small masterpiece that has deserved to traverse the centuries, intact in its extreme fragility!"

Click on the photo for a closer look:


I wonder where it is today?

World's Fair – Milan, 1906

"Our exposition, inaugurated the 3rd of May, 1906 by Their Majesties the King and Queen of Italy, was utterly destroyed by the overnight fire of August 2nd and 3rd. The pages of this book, collected while our halls offered themselves to the public like inspired revelations of Italian art and work, today take on a particular documentary merit and are left as a reminder of the artistic work done, the thought and the love of those who promoted and prepared it."
-- Le Industrie Femminili Italiane, 1906


... although rescue was quick, and despite the dedicated efforts of firefighters, both the Italian and Hungarian exhibitions of the Decorative Arts were engulfed in flames. When day came, all that remained of the site was a pile of smoldering rubble and charred beams...
-- L'Illustration, 1906

In what was probably the single worst loss of needlework excellence in history, the Decorative Arts Pavilion burnt to the ground halfway through the World's Fair in Milan in 1906.



An unpardonable act of arson. The list of pieces submitted to the Fair for display and for sale is a dozen pages long: furnishings – entire bedroom suites, dining room linens, door hangings and curtains, window treatments and coverings; clothing – traditional costumes, baby, children, women's and men's outfits, lingerie, personal, table and household linens; dolls wearing representative territorial costumes.


Needle lace, bobbin lace, knitting, crochet, traditional embroidery, territorial specialty embroideries and laces, tapestries, weaving – works of all materials: silk, linen, gold, straw, cotton.

Gone.

Can you imagine the horrific news reaching the women who laboured to make their very best pieces? The loss... the loss!

Much more than embroidery and lace was burned to ashes: priceless manuscripts, documents, metal statues "reduced to ingots".


Then: within 40 days – the Pavillion was reborn. They literally worked around the clock: the architects, the builders, the artists and artisans, the embroiderers, the weavers and the lacemakers to produce exhibitions every bit as wondrous as those that had been lost. Grand prize and gold medal winners.

"... Also worthy of particular praise, is the National Cooperative of Women's Industries... which managed, with really wonderful results, to awaken and discipline in the remotest provinces of Italy... traditional female industries - embroidery, lace or woven fabrics - characteristic of each region. Of these works there were some wonderful ones from Sardinia or from Friuli, the Abruzzi or Bergamo, from Valsesia or Calabria, [which were] burned in the first exhibition, and although much less numerous, there are beautiful ones in the renewed exhibition. ... Among all the other works, of special, very distinguished importance appeared and appear, however, the exquisitely delicate lace of Aemilia Ars..."
-- Vittorio Pica, L'Emporium, 1906.

Many, many thanks to the people of the Ning Group MI 1906 who have made this post possible.

I will continue my research for traces of these pieces and will post here when I find them!

Jesurum - A lace tradition in Venice

Michelangelo Jesurum opened his first lace-making workshop in 1870 after learning the art of Pellestrina bobbin lace as part of an effort going on in Venice at the time (1870) to revive the ancient art of lacemaking which had fallen into decline. Adding coloured threads to the laces earned a Grand Prize for Jesurum at the 1878 Universal Exhibition in Paris. There is a small picture of the prize-winning entry on the Jesurum website but there is a great picture of another coloured silk thread piece in the book: Il Merletto Veneziano by Doretta Davanzo Poli (1998). There are lots of other pictures of Jesurum lace in this book, as well as a wealth of photos of all kinds of Venetian lace and info (text in Italian).

By the beginning of the 20th century there were seven Jesurum workshops employing nearly 3000 women and the lace was recognized and sought worldwide.


Jesurum became lacemakers to the Italian Royal family and other nobility throughout Europe. In 1906 Michelangelo Jesurum opened a Lace Museum in his home.

World War I interrupted the workshops and halted the market for lace. Jesurum kept many of its workers employed making military uniforms. Only a marginal increase in business after the war put the company in danger of bankruptcy and closure. In 1939 the Levi Moreno family took over the company but kept the name as it was well-known and respected.


Some pieces from the Levi Moreno family lace collection are on display at the Relais Ca' Maffio situated half way between Venice and Treviso, if you find yourself out that way!

Recently Jesurum is under new ownership and has opened a new store on Calle Larga XXII Marzo, San Marco 2401 - just off Piazza San Marco in Venice where they sell household and yacht linens.


The Online Digital Document Archive has a free, downloadable Jesurum monograph (text in Italian) in which the last paragraph reads: The simplicity of the manual production used in Venetian lace therefore consents the most variety and the most valuable results: a Jesurum lace has the same worth as any work of art and, like a painting could be signed before being offered for the admiration of those who love beautiful things.

There are photos of Jesurum laces in Elisa Ricci's Old Italian Lace (1913), also available from the Online Digital Document Archive.


On YouTube there is an excellent 9 minute documentary on the lace of Pellestrina. Make sure to watch it in 720pHD!

Sansepolcro Lace Biennial Workshop

After yesterday's post about the XIV Sansepolcro International Lace Biennial I received an email from an Italian lady named Silvia in Turin. This lady attended the last Biennial in 2008 and took the workshop on Aemilia Ars needle lace taught by Carla D'Alessandro of the Association "I merletti di Antonilla Cantelli" from Bologna (for my Italian readers, there's a little article in Italian here).

Silvia tells me that the course was great and afterwards she went to view the Biennial exhibits which were located at several different locations around town. She says the town of Sansepolcro is small and very easy to get around in and that it is beautiful!

She stopped outside the Lace School to take a picture of the bronze statue dedicated to women and tradition situated just outside the doors:


Silvia also sent me photos of the projects that she did at the workshop:





Silvia loves Aemilia Ars needle lace and has taken other workshops, one of which was the workshop taught by the same Association at the Italia Invita Forum in Parma in 2009:


Thank you very much Silvia for the info and the great photos of your beautiful work!

The Association "I merletti di Antonilla Cantelli" has an excellent didactic book on flowers made in Aemilia Ars needle lace. The text is in Italian but the diagrams are very clear. You can get it from Elena at Italian Needlecrafts. Also check out the book dedicated to the Aemilia Ars master Antonilla Cantelli full of excellent photos and designs of her incredible works! (Text in Italian)

Reticello Handkerchief

Reticello is another one of my fascinations... I really like the chiaroscuro of the filled and unfilled areas. I'm always drawn to it and have many books on the subject. My own attempts have been relatively successful though no where near the perfection of true Italian masters.

Handkerchiefs are a nice way to collect samples of different techniques, if you can find them reasonably priced in antiques markets. I am stunned by the amount of work that has gone into artifacts which are so small. You need really fine thread to work these, good eyesight and lots of patience!

In October of 1987 the Palazzo Davanzati in Florence published a catalogue of some of its collection of laces and embroideries which had been donated by various Italian collectors. In this catalogue is a section on the collection of mostly handkerchiefs donated to the museum in 1986 by the Duchess Franca di Grazzano Visconti di Modrone (1905 - 2003).

This one is still on display in a drawer while many of the others are stored away:


The catalogue information says that it is made of Batiste and embroidered in Reticello and Rodi Stitch (inside the bigger leaves), Padded Satin Stitch, Tailor's Buttonhole Stitch and "Cordonetto" (I don't know what that is referring to) finished around the edge with needle lace. It measures 37 x 37 cm and all the corners are rounded and in one, above the motif, sits the coat of arms of the Viviani della Robbia family, the Duchess's maiden name, topped with a marquis crown. It is an excellent example of Drawn-thread work and Cutwork and is dated the first quarter of the 20th century.


The square Reticello motifs are worked into the fabric, not inserted - can you even think about working Cutwork and Drawn-Thread work on this fine of fabric?! I'm sorry my photos are a bit blurry, I was leaning overtop of the open drawer which was at shin-level.

Though all the catalogue photos are black and white, there are many, many fine examples of embroidered and lace-worked handkerchiefs with their relative information (in Italian). The section on the Duchess's handkerchiefs is one of three; the others are Lace and Embroideries from the 18th and 19th centuries and Lace and Embroidered Baptismal and Newborn artifacts which includes an exquisite collection of bonnets. The catalogue can be found in used bookstores online, it is called: Eleganza e civetterie: merletti e ricami a Palazzo Davanzati, 1987, Marina Carmignani.

If you are looking for a book on handkerchiefs with a more Italian flavour, The Handkerchief by Paolo Peri, 1992, is in English and has mostly Italian examples with particular attention to the 20th century. It has lots of good historical information, there are many colour photos and examples of handkerchiefs in art.

In the "History" section of Tuttoricamo's website there is an excellent article called: Handkerchief, a protagonist in decline. There are also two great how-to articles on Reticello in the "How its done" section.

Different Styles of Reticello - Part One

Arnaldo Caprai

There are some websites that I like to get lost in... where I continually find things I haven't seen before, where I see things that make me want to investigate them further and about which I want to learn more.

The various websites of Arnaldo Caprai keep me interested in going back again and again.

I first discovered the immense textile-related collection of Arnaldo Caprai when I purchased a book many years ago online called: In Viaggio con Penelope. [Travelling with Penelope] This book is actually a catalogue of an exhibition held in Perugia in 1989 of some artifacts from Arnaldo Caprai's collection of over 24,000 pieces of textile-related materials.

Bridal outfit 1940s, possibly made on Burano, found at an antiques market in Florence, image from In Viaggio con Penelope:


The text is in Italian and there are many historical and informational articles on the pieces shown but there are also many, many photos. There are photos of paintings depicting lace and embroidery, embroidery materials like sewing boxes and their contents, frames, lace pillows, old pattern books and catalogues;

L'Arte del Taglio, an Italian monthly fashion publication, May 1, 1915, image from In Viaggio con Penelope:

...sewing tools like clothing irons and machines, fabric stamps and pretty much any tool related to the textile arts.

Venetian needle lace pillow, late 1940s early 1950s, image from In Viaggio con Penelope:


There are photos of embroideries and laces: samplers, table and personal linens, household furnishings, articles for clothing like collars, cuffs, bonnets, trims, etc. Most of the artifacts are Italian but the collection includes pieces from around the world.

The Arnaldo Caprai collection has been called "probably the most important private textile collection in the world." The various websites are showcases for not only pictures of some of this collection but also a great source of little bits of information. Pieces range in age from the 8th century up to 1940.

The Virtual Museum website has so many pages that even though my Macintosh computer will not permit me to view the virtual rooms, (and anyway I can still read the text even if I can't access the virtual room pictures) I still haven't looked at all the other pages and the website has been online now since 2007.

The Study and Research Centre page has a listing of all books and catalogues published from 1980 to 2005. You can find some of these items for sale at used bookstores online. Be aware that they are made of heavy gloss paper and shipping costs can be quite high!

The Techniques pages have instructional videos for a "taste" of how the techniques are executed and photos plus lists of other books (not put out by Arnaldo Caprai) for further reading and study of related topics.

The Collection pages are broken down further into categories which display photos (you can zoom in really close to see details) and information on many things. Use the search engine on the left to get lost for hours! Not everything is translated into English and some of the slideshows are slow to load but be patient - it's worth it!

The Curiosity pages have several mini-articles on things from trousseaux to furnishings to clothing.

The Caprai Group pages show you all the other sectors Arnaldo Caprai is involved in like household linens, clothing and even wine. This site in turn takes you to all kinds of other things like along the bottom of the pages: News takes you to more recent events and exhibitions, the Textile Production Process is packed full of each step that textile products go through before being sold. And of course if you want to know more about the man, his businesses, his activities, etc – click on his smiling face!


In 2004 Poste Italiane (the Italian Postal service) together with Arnaldo Caprai produced a letter stamp to honour lace. It is a sticky-back fabric stamp worked with machine-embroidery.

From the 28th of May until the 20th of June, 2010 there will be an Arnaldo Caprai exhibition in the Costume and Textile Museum at the Palazzo Rosati Spada in Spoleto on "Wedding Traditions and Love" featuring 100 items which relate to the symbolism of wedding gifts covering the period between the 17th century and 20th centuries. This exhibition will be preceded by a press conference featuring Arnaldo Caprai himself on May 28th at noon at the Hotel Clitunno in Spoleto. Just in case you happen to be in the area...

Puncetto books

After getting lost in the mail, returned to sender and resent out, four books on Puncetto have finally arrived at Italian Needlecrafts.

Since these books are very hard to find and to purchase for those of us outside of Italy, I wanted to wait until they were available from a reliable website with PayPal options for payment before telling you about them. Many of you have asked for more about Puncetto needle lace and finally I can tell you something.

If you're wondering which one to start with, it should be this one, Puncetto Valsesiano, Manuale di Base by Anna Axerio:


It has the basics. While the text is in Italian, there are lots of step-by-step photos. I think the hardest part about making Puncetto needle lace is tension and keeping track of where you are.

I know I get lost in the counting all the time so my samples are definitely not worth showing you! I have watched my Mom knit and to avoid getting lost, she keeps a pad of paper and pencil beside her. She draws lines and other symbols to represent the number of stitches and which individual types of stitches she does per row when she's doing something particularly complicated. I am thinking that I might adopt this method at least until I get the hang of Puncetto.

The book has images of the symbols used in patterns, the different parts of the design, the basic stitches, how to add a new thread when you run out, how to start on the edge of fabric, how to start freestyle (like in the video here), then many patterns of varying difficulty and pictures of finished pieces, how to do arcs with picots similar to these that I showed you before:

... and finally how to insert Puncetto pieces into fabric.

At present, as far as I know there is no specific book in English on Puncetto needle lace. As mentioned in a previous post there are some pages in old needlework manuals (in English) which will help you out with the basics of the actual stitch but they don't have patterns or explain in detail how to build a design.

This book has everything you would need to make yourself many, many pieces of this beautiful needle lace. The other books listed at Italian Needlecrafts are specific to their subjects and explain with lots of diagrams and pictures how to execute more complicated (and delightful!) patterns. They do not however, have any instructions on the basics.

Things we would never dream of doing today...

The following two pieces are samples of borders that one could buy by the metre in Bologna, Italy around the middle of the twentieth century. I'm guessing that one picked out one's preferred motifs when commissioning a tablecloth or other stitched item. If anyone can offer other information, please – please leave a comment below!

After the end of the Aemilia Ars Society in the late 1930s and the bombing of their shop during the Second World War, a woman by the name of Maria Garagnani (1904–1989) purchased the store and had it restored. By employing former teachers and students of the defunct Society, the store produced and sold many different kinds of needlework. The store logo is stamped on the labels.

The label here says that this border cost 18 Lire per metre.


And this border cost 10 Lire per metre.


In 1950 there were 625 Lire to one US dollar.

By today's terminology these are samples of Punto Antico Embroidery and Reticello needle lace. A row of Four-Sided Stitch is used to separate the rows of Punto Antico motifs stitched in Curl Stitch, Buttonhole Stitch, Eyelets, Satin Stitch and Bullion Knots. The Reticello needle lace area is bordered with Overcast Stitch, the needle lace motifs are done in Detached Buttonhole Stitch, Needleweaving, Buttonhole Stitch, Overcast bars and Picots.

Could you ever contemplate stitching metres and metres of this?!

These two pieces and a few other samples are among the collection of needlework at the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan, Italy.

You can learn more about Maria Garagnani at Tuttoricamo. Look under the "Prominent Characters" heading, then under the column heading "...yesterday".

There is an article about the history of the Aemilia Ars Society in the May/June 2009 issue of Piecework magazine.

Thanks to Stefania for the photos!

Samplers

Italian needlework samplers are hard to come by. I'm not sure if this is because they were actually used as 'notebooks' in the sense that Italians embroidered samplers of stitches as the only record of the stitches that they were taught and therefore the samplers were handled more and didn't survive the years. This is only a guess. They are not as commonly found as they are in English-speaking countries and usually not framed on the wall like we do.

I found some samplers in my travels to Italy last year, a few were at the Palazzo Davanzati in Florence. A couple of them looked to be mostly cross stitch, one was a darning sampler, the one I looked at the longest was one with various surface stitches and gold thread in one quarter with needle lace and some Macramé around the edges, another quarter of it was all Drawn Thread work. A lot of it was empty space as if it weren't finished – I later recognized this sampler in Elisa Ricci's Old Italian Lace, 1913. (you can find it on page 108 of the pdf file). How I would dearly love to be able to study this sampler up close at length!


Sorry the photo is blurry, the lighting was very low in this room:


In Verona at the little Don Mazza Museum in Via D.N. Mazza no. 14, there was a delicately stitched sampler done in such tiny stitches on very fine linen. Those bottom letters are made out of eyelets!


... we couldn't quite figure out how the cross stitches ended up looking like squares on the back:


At this museum we also found a long strip of wool done as a knitting sampler (this is only a small part):


There is a book I'd like to investigate called: Imparaticci = Samplers: Exercises of embroidery of European and American little girls from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth century by Marina Carmignani, 1986 (text in Italian). It's quite expensive so it's just on my wish list for now. Do you have this book? Can you tell me about the Italian samplers in it?

Thank you Armida for your pics of the samplers at the Davanzati Museum, mine did not turn out at all!

Needle lace

I'm back from a glorious weekend immersed in needlework. I have wanted to take a class with Diane Clements for a long time. She does some beautiful needle lace!

As we were toiling away at our less-than-perfect samples I kept thinking about the beautiful laces that I've seen in Italy. My neck and back were aching after only one day - how must those lace makers feel? And in the days of old without ergonomic chairs and good lighting? It really gives you an appreciation for something when you sit in someone else's position.

Last year while in Italy I went to visit a master needle lace maker on the island of Burano, near Venice. Lucia Costantini invited us into her home and showed us her art. Oh, and it was definitely art.

The exquisite beauty of her pieces made the tears run down my cheeks and I couldn't speak. The work! Countless hours of creation, tiny little masterpieces, large colourful laces, scenes, marine life, symbology... I could have stayed there all day.

Lucia shows us how to make a couple of stitches working on her needle lace pillow:


This is a flower brooch made by Lucia:


My stitches will never be this beautiful but it is very nice to have a piece of this art to look at up close and admire!

Here you can watch Lucia go through the Museum of Lace on Burano. Even if you cannot understand the history of lace that she recounts, there are lace makers at work to watch and samples of different laces shown.

More of Lucia Costantini's lace art can be seen on the Tuttoricamo website, look under "Prominent Characters".

A Venetian Lacemaker is a small book about Lucia, Burano and needle lace by Vima deMarchi Micheli who brought Lucia to the U.S. to teach in the 1990s.

Here is the legend of Burano lace. On this page is also a link to the lace museum and how you can visit it.

If you go to Venice, you can catch a boat to Burano but beware! Chinese imitation lace is everywhere and will be cheap. If it's authentic, it will be expensive – though even expensive prices do not begin to cover the time, expertise and talent that goes into this amazing art.

Punto Avorio - Puncetto needle lace

Puncetto as it is commonly known today, has many other names, Punto Avorio being one of them. This needle lace is very attractive and though more commonly done in geometric designs, it can be used by the more advanced lacemaker to make curves. It is done in monochrome or even in bright multi-colours as on the traditional costumes of the Valsesia area in Italy.

If you've got access to Thérèse de Dillmont's Needlework Encyclopedia (also known as DMC's Complete Encyclopedia of Needlework), look under 'Needlemade laces' and check out the part on 'Knot Stitch Laces'. Look for Punto Avorio.

The best way to begin is to use the edge of a piece of fabric to attach to. Later you can try starting the way this lady does in her video.

There are a few books on this lace though all the ones I know of are in Italian and are difficult to find. Check out my library listing for titles relating to Puncetto. I have to admit to collecting everyone I have found so there are quite a few... to get you started I would say either the Manuale del puncetto valsesiano or the A scuola di Puncetto Valsesiano but if you are itching to give it a try right away, the Dillmont instructions are good or there are even some instructions in the Anchor Manual of Needlework under "Puncetto Work".

This is the corner of a fine linen handkerchief with Puncetto work that I purchased in Italy:


For free download of an Italian book from the early 20th century, go to Tuttoricamo, under the 'Books' section, then 'downloadable antique books', then under Amelia Brizzi Ramazzotti, click on the word 'Puncetto'.

UPDATE: Unfortunately the Tuttoricamo website is no longer active. You may search ebay for this book, it's called: Il Puncetto, insegnamento pratico illustrato.

Aemilia Ars Peacock Tablecloth

In the book Merletti e Ricami della Aemilia Ars (1929) which is a celebration and showcase of the laces made by the Aemilia Ars Society of Bologna in the latter part of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, there are so many incredible laces that one becomes quickly desensitized. You must take each piece and study only that one, every time you open this book in order to appreciate and even to notice how amazing each individual lace is. Every piece represents more than countless hours of painstaking work, every piece reflects the imagination and talent of it's maker and carries the history of Bologna, needle lace and Italy really. Nothing, nothing looks like it. There are other types of needlelaces, and they each have their own styles – not to say that they aren't breathtaking in their own beauty either... but there is some kind of soul in Aemilia Ars lace. If you let yourself really look at it... it is alive. The moveme nt of the designs, the designs themselves – flow somehow. It is difficult to describe how I feel in front of it. Mostly I have to remember to keep my mouth closed as it is frequently opened in awe. My mother's quick backhand is forever imprinted in my brain so I keep my hands firmly clasped behind my back but I lean in very close and try to absorb everything.

Where was I? Oh yes, the book... among the myriad of stunning pieces there is a tablecloth. Such a tablecloth it is! It was called La passeggiata dei pavoni [the promenade of the peacocks] and was executed from a sketch by Alfonso Rubbiani (1848-1913). The centre measured 2.4 x .62 metres and the whole tablecloth including criss-crossing borders wa s 5.2 x 2.2 metres. That's a little more than 17 x 7 feet! Can you imagine producing feet of needlelace?!? The tablecloth was first produced for 'Mr. Vanderbilt and then again for Mr. Bache, both of New York'. It was produced twice.

If I could only study one piece of Aemilia Ars in my life, this is the one. There are 12 peacocks in the centre, 2 fountains, 2 big vases with grotesques and 8 smaller vases containing many types of flowers, leafy branches, pomegranates, acorns, grasses, wheels and picots galore! Flowers my untrained eye recognizes are roses with carnations down the sides... there are many flowers and forms that I have no names for... lozenges, curlicues and even 8 capital Vees (for Vanderbilt, I assume).


I thought that surely this would be easy to find, being such a thing of beauty, the family members of the Vanderbilts and the Baches would surely have treasured these tablecloths. I embarked on a search. I wrote to all the Vanderbilt museums and after a bit of research I found that Mr. Bache's things eventually came to be the property of the Metropolitan Museum. Not one museum answered my queries. Fair enough, I'm sure there are lots of people doing research and they must be busy. I cannot however get to New York to investigate myself. A very kind woman at the Smithsonian confirmed that they don't have it and she was kind enough to send me photos of what they did have which we'll talk about in another post. I poked around investigating old newspaper clippings regarding the Vanderbilts and found a notice of a devastating fire in which much was lost including "many linens". This makes me just ill to think about. Could this piece of art have been lost to fire? Short of trying to contact Anderson Cooper to see if he or his mother have the tablecloth in the linen closet, I'm out of ideas.

A final note: In the book L'Aemilia Ars di Antonilla Cantelli written by the granddaughter of a master of Aemilia Ars, there is a heartwarming piece. Above the picture of a detail of an Aemilia Ars needlelace peacock surrounded by flowers and in front of a fountain is the following note:
"Grandma I'm getting married and I would like a gift: the promenade of the peacocks." It goes on to say that she (the granddaughter) asked so simply and that her grandmother responded just as simply: You're mad! However, the gift was designed and made by Grandma just the same. I imagine that the granddaughter must have sobbed with joy. The following page in the book shows the newer version of the 'Promenade' – only a touch simpler and no less beautiful – the same size as the original.

Aemilia Ars needle lace from Bologna - Part One

Aemilia Ars needle lace is one of the most breathtaking laces I've ever seen. Conceived in Bologna, Italy at the end of the 19th century, it is made by building a structure of supports with thread, covering them and filling in the spaces between; working on cardstock and later inserting the lace into the finished artifact. The principal difference between this and other applied needle laces is that it makes use of a system of support stitches which are then cut away enabling the execution of some pretty amazing designs.

In 2007 I went to the Italia Invita Lace and Embroidery Forum in Rimini, Italy and took a three hour workshop on Aemilia Ars needle lace while I was there. Needless to say, this kind of beauty takes time and much practice! I'm not showing you the 'lace' that I made, but I will say that it did ignite my curiosity! Last year I went for the 2009 Forum, this time it was in Parma, and afterwards I went to Bologna in the hopes of seeing some of this lace up close. What I saw left me awestruck and literally brought tears to my eyes.

Two very generous ladies met me at the train station and took me to the Collezioni Comunali d’Arte Museum which has a small but unbelievable collection of pieces. I say the collection is small because when you walk into the room there are (if I remember correctly) only five glass cases with the lace inside. However, to study the individual pieces would require many, many visits as they are all very intricate and the more you look, the more you observe.

There was a very nice attendant who let us take photos but without flash and consequently many of mine did not turn out or are quite grainy (all the more reason to go back!). I'm putting them here just to give you a feel for the pieces though obviously I'd like to get my hands on clearer pictures...

Our nice attendant was replaced by one who was not so crazy about us taking photos so if you go, be prepared to be refused. If you're interested in this lace and you're in Bologna, you could study these pieces everyday and never get tired!

To learn more about Aemilia Ars needle lace, visit Tuttoricamo (click on the British flag for the English pages, there are articles under both the "History" and "Techniques" headings. While you're there check out "Prominent Characters": Antonilla Cantelli, Virginia Bonfiglioli and Christine Bishop for even more photos and info.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about the second half of that day in Bologna and some books on the Art of Aemilia Ars needle lace.

Aemilia Ars needle lace from Bologna - Part Two

Needlework in Florence

If you've got some time and want to see needlework while you're in Florence, you should definitely hit a few museums. There are many to choose from and I will admit that I haven't been into half of them, so I can only tell you about what is in the ones I've seen.At the Duomo [Cathedral] there is the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo which houses the incredible collection of Or Nué (Silk Shaded Goldwork) in the Sala d'Altare [Altar Room]: some 20-odd panels depicting the life of St. John the Baptist. The designs for these absolutely amazing embroideries are attributed to Antonio and Paolo Pollaiolo, and the work is some of the best surviving examples of Florentine Goldwork from the Renaissance. Don't miss other embroideries along the wall opposite to these treasures, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the mastery of skill!


The Galleria di Costumi [Costume Gallery] at the Palazzo Pitti is a great place to see embroidery of all kinds used to ornament different styles of dress down through the ages - and in theatre clothing as well. Don't leave without checking out the funeral clothing that has recently been restored of the Grand Duke Cosimo de'Medici, his wife Eleonora di Toledo and their son Don Garcia.
After many years of being closed for restoration, the Palazzo Davanzati is a needleworker's dream. It houses a small but impressive collection of the finest needle lace and other techniques of laces and embroideries. Many pieces that are pictured in Elisa Ricci's books can actually be seen up close here. One room houses some textile equipment like a spinning wheel and many other tools, on the wall are several samplers of various techniques including one spectacular sampler of Reticello. Don't miss the cabinet in this room (it's quite dark in there) which holds many pull-out panels (remember to look on both sides of every panel!) and drawers containing a myriad of different embroideries and laces. The next room is better lit and is full of needlework including some very intricate pieces of Aemilia Ars needle lace from Bologna. Remember to pull out all the drawers in the cabinets in this room to see everything!


Museums I haven't been to, but want to investigate in Florence are: the Bargello Museum which houses one of the famous Guicciardini trapunto quilts (the other one being in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London) and the Loretta Caponi Museum (on the website look under the smaller heading "Loretta Caponi" and then "La Collezione Loretta Caponi" to start a slide show of pieces).

You can learn more about Aemilia Ars, Reticello and Goldwork (Metal Thread Embroidery) at Tuttoricamo, (click on the British flag for the English version then 'Techniques') - while you're there look under 'Prominent Characters' to learn more about Elisa Ricci and under 'History' for the Guicciardini quilts.

I'd love to hear from you if you've discovered other needlework in Florence - please leave a comment below!