Whitework Sampler in the Palazzo Davanzati

There is an Italian whitework sampler in the Palazzo Davanzati Museum collection which haunts me.

I have never seen the whole thing up close as it is displayed all folded up in one of the glass cases in the embroidery and lace room on the first floor.

photo from Merletti a Palazzo Davanzati.

There is a photo of it all opened up in the museum catalogue entitled: Merletti a Palazzo Davanzati - Manifatture europee dal XVI al XX secolo, edited by Marina Carmignani, 1981, page 53. On the preceding page there is a brief paragraph which I will translate here:

33. Italy, end of the XIX - beginning of the XX century
Sampler on white linen of needlework stitches
50 x 70 cm
Inv. Stoffe 1338
G.F.S. 293283
A series of stitches reproduced in the style of the second half of the XVI century: pulled stitches, drawn-thread stitches, reticello, satin stitch embroidery. The sampler is probably 19th century and falls into the vast production inspired by the 16th century Italian pattern books, revived from pattern books by Pagani, Vinciolo and Vecellio, back in vogue between the end of the XIX century and the beginning of the 20th century, of which Aemilia Ars was among the most famous and perfect interpreters.

I take as many photos of it as I can whenever I'm there. I'm totally fascinated by the wide range of work that is on it.

The name Laviniana appears at the top. Who was she? How old was she when she did this? Was it meant as her resume? Perhaps that is not even the stitcher's name, perhaps it means something else? Oh the things I want to know!

Close up photos show a rather rustic work:

But there is also a lot of skill shown on this sampler. Unfortunately my photos of the reticello work are far too blurry to be of use.

There are some religious symbols as well, just under the name:

Is 2213  (or 2211) a bible reference? Why are they upside-down?

... and there are little people in the needle lace:

She has fingers! (click on the image for a closer look)

To study this sampler properly I'd have to brush up on my symbolism and bible study as well as my needlework. I want to see the back of the work. I want to study it with a magnifying glass, with needle and thread in hand. I want detailed close-up macro photos!

Most of all I want to be in Florence at the Palazzo Davanzati!

Alessandro Allori

Sometimes the best way to see examples of Italian needlework is to look at paintings and portraits. I like Alessandro Allori's paintings for exactly this reason. In much of his work you can find examples of lace and embroidery on the clothing and furnishings of his subjects.


Alessandro Allori (1535-1607) was the foster son and student of the artist Bronzino, (whose work is also rich in needlework and textile details).


Until quite recently, images of Allori's works were hard to find, now if you do a Google search however, you can get lost among his meticulous detail for quite awhile.

A detail of Annunciation:


I recently purchased the book: Around the David, The Great Art of Michelangelo's Century, 2003 in which Marina Carmignani has written a chapter on lace and embroidery details in Allori's paintings with particular attention to the works preserved (and recently restored) in the Galleria dell'Accademia museum in Florence which also hosts the David by Michelangelo.


As I was there last year and delighted in the details of Allori's paintings, I have been searching for books on his art that are affordable. This is an excellent book and the chapter preceding the one on lace and embroidery details addresses the "domestic naturalness" of Allori bringing into focus little details like the food and furnishings around the subjects. There is also a chapter addressing the many flowers which are scattered throughout Allori's work and their symbolic meanings.

I really liked this Filet border depicted on this cushion in Allori's work: Madonna and Child with Saints...


...so much so that I think I'll use it on a towel border, you can too, if you like, I charted it:


Allori's works (and others) at the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence were restored for the 500th anniversary of the David by Michelangelo.


Please note that not all of the paintings here are on display at the Galleria in Florence.

Filet Lace in Turin

Whenever I used to think of Filet lace, I always thought of designs done mostly in Darning stitch or Crochet Filet... Italian Filet from the various regions has really opened my eyes to how different and interesting this ancient art can be.

Right now at the Palazzo Madama in Turin there is a lace exhibit which will be there until the end of the year. This particular display, which consists of 95 pieces of lace including Reticello, Venice Gros Point, Punto in Aria, Filet and types of 17th and 18th century laces, shows the course lace has taken through history. The museum holds over 450 pieces so this is but a small sampling.

If you download their newsletter (at the bottom of the page, click on: SCARICA IL NUMERO O (2MB) - text in Italian), check out the header on top of page 5 for some really unusual needlework with gold and little pieces of coloured stones dating back to the Renaissance which was donated to the museum by Elisa Ricci, foremost Italian needlework scholar, author, collector of the early 20th century. There is a photo of the full piece on the link for the exhibition but it's difficult to see anything, the shot in the newsletter is a closeup of a small section and the gold threads and beads are clearer. There is a full page colour photo of this piece in the book: Tessuti Ricami e Merletti in Italia by Marina Carmignani if you can get your hands on a copy (it's a very expensive book!) though, the text does not go into much detail. This piece alone would be worth going to this exhibit.

Visit the museum's Flickr group to see more than six hundred photos of the museum and some of its displays. It's definitely worth making yourself a cuppa and looking through them, not so much from a textile standpoint but for internal shots of the amazing palazzo! There are more interior photos on the website here.

Ah... where was I? It is so easy for me to get sidetracked... yes, Filet lace. A kind Italian friend sent me some photos of the show - among which were these two photos of a most interesting piece of Filet lace:


Look at all the different stitches used on this piece... and different weights of thread to add emphasis to certain motifs. Definitely a piece worth studying - what a lot of work!

For more reading on a different type of Italian Filet, check out the post on Sardinian Bosa Filet lace. For lots of photos, go to the Museo del Merletto an online museum of lace.

Thanks to Silvia for the photos!

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

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!