Fine Italian Whitework

I wanted to tell you a little bit about some Whitework that I saw last year in Verona.

The Don Mazza Museum is very tiny, to pass by on the street, you wouldn't know it was there. Luckily a lady who lives in Verona had already phoned and arranged for a guided tour for us on my last day before going home.

Though the museum seems small there are actually many, many beautiful works to look at. I think we were there for over 3 hours.

Father Don Mazza (1790 - 1865) started a women's institute in Verona in 1828 which was also a boarding school for needy children. Embroidery was part of the education program and the istitute cultivated its own silk worms and produced its own silk threads for its embroideries. Don Mazza was quite the perfectionist and the embroideries had to be of very high quality. In another post I will go into more detail about the incredible threadpainting and other embroideries that the students produced.

One of the pieces that we found very interesting was a Whitework handkerchief mounted on the wall in a frame.

I couldn't get it all in the picture without the glare of the lights but the top edge was the same as the bottom:


Here's a corner, notice all the flower centres are voided and filled with little needle lace designs:


The monogram was exquisitely done:


All four edges were the same designs, flawlessly executed and opposing corners were the same. Though all four corners had the same designs, the flowers were filled differently at diagonal opposite corners making it even more interesting to look at:


I was fascinated by every part of this amazing work, even the leaves were all filled with different stitches:


I stood in front of this work for a very long time. I wished for a magnifying glass. I may have left nose-prints on the glass... The linen was so fine, and the thread too. Each detail was a joy to behold. But for a bit of wear in the centre and some tiny holes here and there, the handkerchief was in great shape.

Antique Pattern Books

In the early twentieth century Italian needlework scholar Elisa Ricci edited the reprints of five 16th century pattern books for embroidery and lace.

Last year these reprints were collected together and reprinted again in one volume called Disegni per Merletti e Ricami [Designs for Lace and Embroidery] edited by Bianca Rosa Bellomo. Pattern books included in this volume are: I singolari e nuovi disegni per lavori di biancheria by Federico Vinciolo, La vera perfectione del disegno per punti e ricami by Giovanni Ostaus, Il Burato: libri de Ricami by Alessandro Paganino, and two by Giovanandrea Vavassore: Opera nuova universale intitolata Corona di Ricami and Esemplario di lavori: che insegna alle donne il modo e l'ordine di lavorare.

For the presentation of Disegni per Merletti e Ricami, Bianca Rosa asked several needlework friends to stitch patterns from the volume in whatever technique they liked. The pieces were then part of a display at the Italia Invita Forum in Parma in May of 2009. The stitched pieces were displayed beside a printout of the pattern chosen from the antique pattern books. It was a delightful display to look at!! (Click on the little photos on the linked page to look closer)

Later in May the works were displayed again in Bologna. It was very difficult to pick which ones to show you so this is a random pick of one design from each author:

Vinciolo:

Ostaus:


Paganino:


Vavassore I:


Vavassore II:


I saw both displays and can tell you that it was fascinating to look at the different interpretations of each pattern. I noticed things in Bologna that I hadn't paid attention to in Parma – I could have looked forever!

You can read more about Elisa Ricci at the Italian Embroidery website Tuttoricamo, click on the British flag for the English pages and look under 'prominent characters'.

Disegni per Merletti e Ricami can be purchased here. (Send an email request.)

Thanks to Elisabetta for the Paganino photo.

Il Ricamo Illustrato - an antique Italian needlework publication

Ines Tamburi of Sarzana, Italy was the director of a bi-monthly embroidery publication called Il Ricamo Illustrato [Embroidery Illustrated] in the early twentieth century. She also ran an embroidery school in Sarzana between 1910 and 1920 and published at least one book on Cutwork (Nuovo Ricamo Doppio Intaglio, 1918) with the Sonzogno publishing house of Milan. I can find no other information at present on this lady.

Check out this elaborately decorated masthead!


There is a particular issue of Il Ricamo Illustrato that I'd like to have but it is quite pricey. The issue is dated April 1, 1929 and is full of delightful designs based on the Italian fable The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi.


The bi-monthly publication of Il Ricamo Illustrato was printed on newsprint paper, a huge single sheet, folded – surviving copies are very fragile. The Masthead says that copies were available on the 1st and 15th of every month.

At the bottom of this cover from a September 1927 issue it says: "Something new in embroidery: Il Punto a Macchia, easy and enjoyable work explained inside this issue". The Italian verb 'macchiare' means 'to mark' so Punto a Macchia might be Marking Stitch? That can't be it, Marking Stitch wasn't new in the late 20s... was it? The cover pattern looks more like a design for Broccatello Stitch (see the first two stitch pictures on the linked page).


This cover is from August 1935 and the design has changed with the times. I cannot make out if Ines Tamburi is still the director or not.


There are two issues from 1926 in the "Free Downloads" section of Italian Needlecrafts – more will be added gradually as time permits. While you're there, check out the other lovely things that are on the website.

Guicciardini Quilt

An Italian lady from Bologna has just told me some exciting news. The Guicciardini Trapunto Quilt is finished being restored and is on display from April 26th to July 4th at the Palazzo Davanzati Museum in Florence.

The quilt returns "home" for a few weeks to the Palazzo Davanzati as it was displayed there between 1956 and 1991 in the Peacock Room (Sala dei Pavoni) which is the bedroom display.

The bed in the Sala dei Pavoni where I presume the Guicciardini Quilt will rest during the show:


One of the Peacocks on the wall of the Sala dei Pavoni:


This may be the only chance to see the real thing for a while as it will be returned to storage at the Bargello Museum (in Florence) after the exhibit. A replica stitched by the Club del Punto in Croce (Cross Stitch Club) of Florence will be displayed permanently in its place at the Palazzo Davanzati.

The Club del Punto in Croce (which practices all kinds of needlework, not just Cross Stitch) sponsored the International Exhibition of Textile Art inspired by the Guicciardini Quilt in Florence in October of 2006. All techniques of embroidery and lace were invited to participate. The result was a spectacular collection of needlework. Check out the slideshow of pieces (make sure you set aside 5 minutes or so to view them all): click on "Exhibitions", then "The Guicciardini Quilt" on the left-hand side of the page. Not all the photos are of good quality but you can get a pretty good idea of the amount of work involved in the show.

Some history of the quilt and it's brother (called the Tristan Quilt) at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and the story of the restoration of the quilt in Florence plus other technical information can be found here but only in Italian. I have written them to ask permission to translate it for you, hopefully they grant it and I'll be able to write a post in the future about it. If not, then I'll sum it up for you in another post. In any case, go through the pages for the pictures!

In the meantime, you can also go to Tuttoricamo and look under the "History" heading for an article and links to more pictures!

Thank you Armida for your pics from the Palazzo Davanzati!
Grazie mille Bianca Rosa!

Ars Panicalensis - Embroidery on Tulle

Panicale is a small town in Umbria, Italy. It is where an Italian lady by the name of Anita Belleschi Grifoni founded a school of embroidery and named it Ars Panicalensis [Art of Panicale] in the early 1930s.

Born in Panicale in 1889, Anita lost her mother at a young age and was then taken in by the Institute of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish were she received her education and was taught embroidery. When she was in her forties, Anita was asked to restore a veil owned by the Countess Barabino di LeMura. Whether the veil was Venetian or French is unclear, in any event Anita was then inspired to start a revival of the technique of Embroidery on Tulle. She studied many antique pieces at the Collegiate Church of St. Michael Archangel and in other local churches and the embroidery school was born.

Anita's designs were of typical 19th century taste: mostly floral motifs enriched by volutes and festoons, or birds of paradise on flowering branches, love knots, ribbons, landscapes, swallows and rural elements.

The school provided a means for local women to earn some financial and moral independence by making and selling their work. Anita was so convinced of the potential of Ars Panicalensis that she sent some samples to the House of Savoy. As a result, Anita and her daughter embroidered the christening robe for Princess Maria Pia of Savoy. The embroideries became well-known and sought after by the upper class and noble families and the school was commissioned to do bridal veils, tablecloths and other items destined not only for individual use but also for Embassies and many pieces went out to foreign markets.

Today you can see many of these works in the Panicale Tulle Museum in the Church of S. Agostino in Piazza Regina Margherita, Panicale. A few photos are here. Paola Matteucci, a master of the technique of Ars Panicalensis consults and assists in the management and promotion of the museum. She also teaches courses on the technique and in 2004, wrote for and co-edited the book, Ars Panicalensis, il Museo del Tulle 'Anita Belleschi Grifoni'.

I was lucky enough to see her display in Rimini at the Italia Invita Forum. The work was breathtakingly beautiful and the display was the talk of the show. Be sure to watch the slideshow of the display at the Italia Invita Forum in Rimini in 2007.

Read about Ars Panicalensis at Tuttoricamo under the 'Techniques' heading, the article is entitled: Embroidery on Tulle. While you're there, check out the book reviews for a review of the book Ars Panicalensis, il Museo del Tulle 'Anita Belleschi Grifoni' and the CD offered by Paola Matteucci in the 'Books' section under the heading: Other Italian Techniques.

The book (with text in Italian and English) and the CD (Italian but has some English text - step by step photos are very easy to follow) are available directly from Paola Matteucci's website. She also sells kits!

Samplers 2

The following photo is of an open work Italian sampler pictured and described in Elisa Ricci's Ricami Italiani Antichi e Moderni (Le Monnier, 1925).


A 17th century sampler of 60 different motifs divided into three columns. All done in white on white, superby executed – perhaps the work of a professional embroiderer or teacher. Reticello, Punto Antico, Drawn Thread work. Elisa Ricci says that it is no longer a "page of notes" but a "page from a dictionary or manual." Indeed this is definitely a sampler one could use as a reference for many, many motifs and stitches.

What if it was someone's resumé? You'd hire them on the spot!

Rows of Four-Sided Stitch are used to divide the motifs and the sections (also as a unit of measure - it's much easier to count squares than individual ground threads!). Curl Stitch, Satin Stitch and Buttonhole Stitch in many of its variations.


Wouldn't it be lovely to study this one up close? Look at the texture!

For some excellent articles on samplers, go to Tuttoricamo and look under the 'History' heading.

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!