Raphael, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes,
cartoon from the Life of Peter, 1515-1516.

Gouache and charcoal on paper, mounted on canvas,

319 x 399 cm. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

 

 

Kings and nobles were the promoters of this movement. Luxury continued increasing despite the sumptuary laws occasionally enacted against it. As marvellous works of this era may be quoted, the cope made in 1454 for Charles VII, Canon of Saint-Hilaire of Poitiers by Colin Jolye, described in the Bulletin Archeologique and in the Bibliotheque de l’Ecole des chartes, where one may also see the inventory of the other treasures of the Chapter of Saint-Hilaire. We will also mention the ornaments for the use of the Chapel of Charles the Bold, preserved in the Cathedral of Berne.

Pictures in needlework continued to be produced. At the Cluny we see St Catherine and St Andrew embroidered in flax, silk, and gold. Further, two other pictures in silk on a gold background, one representing St Christopher bearing the Infant Saviour in a Gothic style building; the other, two civilians in the clothing of the time of Louis XII. Figures of this description are less frequent than religious subjects. Also of note, there is a bishop’s mitre bearing Christ holding the globe surmounted by a cross on its principal surface, the Virgin crowned by an angel, and the Annunciation. Further, there is a fragment of red wool embroidery upon material from the Cologne manufactory, and German specimens of silk and linen showing fine ornamentation.

As already stated, the 16th century is but the glorious blossoming of previous tentative efforts. Until now, we have exhibited few Italian names amongst the most noted embroiderers; however, we will now find genuine schools developed in the peninsula, schools in which the personality of the artists become absorbed. Milan is the most famous for its embroidery and in his Dames Gallantes, Brantome assures us that the capital of Lombardy enjoyed this pre-eminence from time immemorial. Florence also had its old embroiderers, and in an inventory of the jewels belonging to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy (1420), there is noticed “a large cape with gold embroidery, a fine work from Florence, made of history.” We need not mention Venice, where Giorgio Vasari describes Nicolà as a rare and unique master of embroidery. The same writer mentions Girolamo Cicogna and, especially, Paolo, whose talent he greatly praises, amongst the artists of Verona. Antonio Pollaiuolo composed the cartoons of an ornament destined for the Church of St John at Florence, representing the Saint’s life. Paolo took no less than 26 years to execute this work, which, according to Vasari, besides being done in point serré, had the further advantage of great solidity so as to appear like a genuine painting done with the brush. In Udine, in the city of Friuli, a family of painters acquired such a reputation that its members soon changed their proper name of Nanni to Ricamatori (embroiderers).

These needleworks could scarcely fail to rise to a perfection worthy of contemporary admiration, as soon as the great painters became connected with them by supplying their models. With her skill in the art of design, Catherine de Médici contributed greatly to improve this taste in France. As early as 1521, Francis I, wishing to have an embroidered apartment executed for his mother, Louise de Savoy, entrusted the work to two famous artists, Cyprian Fulchin and Etienne Brouard. Some idea of what these apartments looked like may be gathered by studying the tapestries, bed furniture, and seats embroidered with the coat of arms and devices seen in the Cluny once belonging to Pierre de Gondy, Cardinal Archbishop of Paris in 1587, brought from his chateau of Villepreux. But why does the same museum show us, unaccompanied by the name of any artist, the marvellous specimens embroidered in silk, gold, and silver, representing the Worship of the Golden Calf after the designs of Raphael? This piece, which we are assured formed part of a set ordered for the service of consecration, could have only been produced by an embroiderer of high repute.