In the 80s, we had an art historian in the Netherlands who started to systematically trawl through historical records to find late medieval and early modern embroiderers. She published a couple of great articles on the topic. However, the large overview publication she promised in her 1987 article never saw the light of day. Instead, Prof. Dr. Saskia de Bodt switched to studying illustration. And although I am sure she has a lovely and fulfilling career, I am sad she switched topics! And I am wondering in what state this promised 'large overview publication' is? I did contact her, but never received an answer. In the meantime, I am grateful for the work she did! And I love sharing these somewhat obscure Dutch publications with you.

In the Low Countries, the embroiderers were never organised in their own guild in the medieval period. Could this be because there were rarely enough embroiderers in a particular city in the medieval period to make this worthwhile? Unfortunately, we have very limited sources for the late medieval period. But this seems to be a plausible explanation. So, how did they organise themselves? One thing most cities seem to have in common is that the embroiderers have been organised in one way or another since the late 15th century. Precisely the time when embroidery really takes off in the Low Countries. However, things usually become official much later.

But there are exceptions. Especially in the South (nowadays Belgium). For instance, embroiderers are mentioned as part of the guild of the tailors and doublet makers in AD 1403 in Ghent. Bruges follows in AD 1441. Again, embroiderers are part of a guild together with the quilters and doublet makers. In Antwerp, the embroiderers were among the initiators of the Saint Luke Guild in AD 1382. The Saint Luke Guild is a common guild for many different kinds of artists. The Antwerp Guild united painters, gold and silver smiths, glaziers and wood carvers.

The embroiderers in Amsterdam first belong to the Our Lady Guild of Masons. This guild was formed in the second half of the 15th century. Don't be fooled by the name. Painters, glaziers and other artisans were also part of this masons' guild. In the course of the 16th century, the embroiderers and the other artisans separated to form the Saint Luke guild. The embroiderers of Haarlem belong to the Saint Luke guild from its formation sometime during the late 15th century. Things become official in AD 1514. I found it shocking to read that after the reorganisation of the guild in AD 1631, the embroiderers belonged to the lowest rank of artisans represented by the guild. The painters were the top dogs, of course.

Other cities where the embroiderers belonged to the Saint Luke guild are: Dordrecht, Kampen, Gouda, Rotterdam, Delft, Middelburg, Vlissingen, Veere, Nijmegen, Zwolle, Den Bosch, Bergen op Zoom and Venlo. Why were the embroiderers part of a guild that was or at least became increasingly dominated by the painters? One reason might be that this is how they acquire their patterns. Another is that in sources written in Latin, their profession is named acupictores or painter with a needle. It thus seems that medieval people in the Low Countries (especially in the North) did see embroiderers as painters and not so much as textile workers.

But again, we have some exceptions. In Groningen, the embroiderers were part of the peddlers' guild, together with the passementerie workers. In Utrecht and Rhenen, the embroiderers were part of the tailors' guild. And in Arnhem, they essentially called the Saint Luke Guild the Saint Josef Guild.

And you would probably think that the embroiderers would be well off within the tailors' guild. After all, the embroiderer makes the orphreys that the tailor then attaches to the vestment he has cut and put together. Good relations between embroiderers and tailors are thus important. And they probably were amicable as long as the job was high-end and complicated. But things became muddled when the job required 'simple' embroidery or 'simple' sewing. For instance, when vestments were mended. This overlap was the centre of much dismay and legal action between the two professions.

I hope you've enjoyed learning a bit more about the organisation of medieval embroiderers in the Low Countries. My Journeyman and Master Patrons will have access to an English translation of the chapter by Saskia the Bodt on which this blog is based. It contains a wealth of information and a bibliography for further research.

Next week, I will have a brand new embroidery tutorial for you. And from the 1st of December onwards, all my Patrons will have access to a digital advent calendar with daily delicious embroidered eye candy. I am a huge fan of advent calendars! No matter what is in them. So far, I have tea, coffee, chocolate, illustrations, meditation texts and digital. An impressive 15 different ones! You see, my friends know about my advent calendar addiction too. And they are very glad to help me out :).

Literature
Bodt, S. de, 1987. De professionele borduurwerkers, in: Bodt, S. de, Caron, M.L. (Eds.), Schilderen met gouddraad en zijde. Rijksmuseum Het Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, pp. 8–19.

Last week, we looked at five different embroidered versions of the same Adoration of the Magi design. By changing materials and embroidery techniques, these late 15th and early 16th century embroideries look quite different from each other. The scene was part of four chasubles and a loose chasuble cross. But what about the other scenes complementing the main Adoration of the Magi scene? Where they also identical on all five pieces? Let's find out what they can tell us about the design process of a late medieval embroidered vestment.

Above is a list of the events in the life of Jesus that are depicted on the four pieces. It becomes clear that some scenes were more popular than others. Bear in mind that none of these pieces are in their original configuration. They were all cut down to the newer, shorter model when fashion changed. This probably means that all of them miss at least two scenes. A partial scene on the chasuble from Frankfurt is interpreted in the literature as Joachim and Anna (parents of Mary) meeting at the Golden Gate. However, I think it is more likely that this is the Visitation.

Just like some modern people, ancient people wanted to know everything there was to learn about their heroes. As the official bible is rather tight-lipped about many ordinary aspects of the lives of the Holy Family, apocryphal texts filled that void. For instance, Mary needed more background. The story of her parents and her miraculous conception can be found in the Gospel of James. Although this gospel did not make it into the official bible, its stories were widely known in the medieval period. The scene of her father Joachim being expelled from the temple for being childless (when Mary was finally born, he was an old man) is included on the chasuble from Frankfurt.

As we compare the scenes we have multiples for, we both note 'twins' and a striking diversity. There are two different design sources for the Annunciation.

There's four different design sources for the Visitation.

As the Nativity scene is another central embroidery on the two chasubles now kept in the Catharijneconvent, one would expect that at least these two share the same embroidery design. However, they don't. Instead, one of the chasubles from the Catharijneconvent is a twin again with the chasuble from Namur. There are three different embroidery design drawings at the base of the Nativity scene.

By now, it will probably not surprise you that the Presentation at the Temple scene has a twin and a completely different version.

The two scenes of Christ amongst the Doctors have a different design source. Although one of the chasubles from the Catharijneconvent has several scenes that are identical to the ones on the chasuble from Namur, two scenes are different (this one and the Visitation).

What does it all mean? Supposedly, all five embroideries were made in Amsterdam (the online catalogue states that the one from Namur was made in the Duchy of Brabant; I doubt it) at around the same time. We have already seen that all five Adoration of the Magi scenes have the same embroidery design but very different embroidery techniques and materials. Combining this with the above evidence, I don't think that any of these embroideries were made in the same workshop. What do you think?

Furthermore, how far did the design 'template' drawing of the Adoration of the Magi travel? Was it really only used by the embroiderers in Amsterdam? Why, then, do the other scenes use at least three different design template sources? Did the embroidery guild in Amsterdam have such an extensive library of designs? Knowing how many embroiderers worked in Amsterdam at the start of the 16th century would be helpful. Unfortunately, we don't. We do have a guild regulation from the Amsterdam St Luke Guild from AD 1579, slightly after the creation of these embroideries and well after the Reformation kicked in, where the embroiderers are named together with the painters, glazers, sculptors, carpet makers and potters. There are clearly not enough or no longer enough embroiderers in Amsterdam to form their own guild. The St Luke guild undoubtedly had some excellent draftsmen amongst its members. But still. Is it possible that the Adoration of the Magi template drawing travelled between the guilds of different cities?

We know from historical sources that design drawings were ordered from painters and other talented draftsmen, either by the embroiderers themselves or by the client. The sources sometimes stipulate that the drawing needs to be returned to the maker. In that case, it would be easy for the maker to supply another guild with the same design. Thus, the design library was probably not housed by the embroidery guild but by individual draftsmen or the guild to which they belonged. Is it thus possible that these four renditions of the Adoration of the Magi were not all made in Amsterdam? Perhaps some were made in other towns near Amsterdam, such as Leiden, Alkmaar, Haarlem or Hoorn? What do you think?

Literature
Bodt, S. de, 1980. 'Dan isser de Borduerwercker …`. Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 31 (1), 65–71.
Stolleis, K., 1992. Der Frankfurter Domschatz: Die Paramente: Liturgische Gewänder und Stickereien 14. bis 20. Jahrhundert. Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main.

If you have followed this blog for a while, you already know that medieval goldwork embroidery was mass-produced. The designs were used more than once, sometimes even on the same vestment. Survived have mainly the simpler single-figure orphreys or the, possibly block-printed, naive embroidered scenes from Germany. But that's not all. Even very complex scenes were used multiple times, as is the case for a particular version of the Adoration of the Magi. The design is attributed to the painter Jacob Corneliszoon van Oostsanen. Five different chasuble orphreys from Amsterdam use this design. They were all stitched between the late 15th and early 16th centuries.

The first example is a chasuble cross (MT 25436) kept at the Musee de Tissus et Arts Decoratifs in Lyon, France. The style of the stitched version of the coat of arms of Amsterdam dates this embroidery before AD 1490. The embroidery mainly consists of or nue. The gold threads run the full width of the design.

The next chasuble is a good example of how the same design can be stitched very differently. There's no or nue this time. Instead, it is all expertly shaded silk embroidery. And do you see the canopies that enclose the scene at the top? They are totally different from the chasuble cross kept in Lyon, as is the orphrey frame. Click on the picture to be taken to the museum's website for additional pictures.

The above chasuble is a combination of the other two. It has lots of silk embroidery and a bit of or nue to accentuate parts of the clothing. And then there are the fresh-water pearls. They would have increased the value of this embroidery quite a bit. Although we see yet another type of orphrey frame, the canopies that enclose the scene at the top are the same as seen on the piece from Lyon. Click on the picture for additional pictures of the piece.

And here is an example held at the Diocesan Museum in Namur, Belgium. Click on the picture to be taken to the digital entry for this chasuble. More high-res pictures can be found there. This is an almost exact copy of the one held in Museum Catharijneconvent. The bare white string indicates that this chasuble was once adorned with fresh-water pearls too. The frame around the orphreys is different, yet again.

The last example only shows part of the scene. It looks like it has been cut out from the larger embroidery. However, this is not the case. Again, the majority of the embroidery is executed in silk. But parts of the garments have been worked in or nue. The orphrey frame resembles the piece from Lyon. The canopy seems to be a slight variation on the ones seen on ABM t2289.

The above examples give us a glimpse of the workings of a late medieval embroidery workshop. One design could be stitched very differently. Undoubtedly, its size, materials used and stitch technique employed played a major part in determining its value. The differences between the pieces also show how the whole orphrey was planned. The canopies and the orphrey frame were likely specific for a certain master and/or workshop. Instead of signing your work, you made sure that you had a particular style of canopy and/or frame. This might also have come in handy when you needed to prove that the work was yours. The central scene was commissioned once from a painter. All members of the Amsterdam guild shared the resulting pricking. The finished embroideries ended up in churches in Oudewater (c. 50 km from Amsterdam), Loenen (c. 100 km from Amsterdam) and at a small 17th century church built by the Van Groesbeek family (Dutch noble family) in Namur province, Belgium. From which church the embroideries now kept in Lyon and Frankfurt originally came from is unknown.

I hope you enjoyed seeing these five examples of the same design. Although the design is the same, the originality of the different embroidery masters is evident. But it can challenge our modern ideas of art, value and originality. Perhaps a bit like painted canvasses today?

Literature
Descatoire, C. (Ed.), 2019. L'art en broderie au moyen âge: Autour des collections du musée de Cluny. Musée Cluny, Paris.
Leeflang, M., Schooten, K. van (Eds.), 2015. Middeleeuwse Borduurkunst uit de Nederlanden. WBOOKS, Zwolle.
Stolleis, K., 1992. Der Frankfurter Domschatz: Die Paramente: Liturgische Gewänder und Stickereien 14. bis 20. Jahrhundert. Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main.

I hope you haven't missed my blogs too much! For the past two weeks, I've been on holiday in Italy with my husband, and we took my Patrons virtually with us! We started in Bologna, were nearly drowned in Ravenna, journeyed on to Neapels and ended in Rome. And apart from spending a whopping four days in Pompeii and a whole day in Herculaneum, we did seek out medieval goldwork embroidery! Some of you might know that most Opus anglicanum pieces have actually not survived in England. Especially Italy houses several spectacular pieces. Other medieval goldwork embroidery seems to be more sparse. And this is due to the fact that these pieces are often still owned, and sometimes used!, by their respective churches. But it is well worth a try to check out every church museum or medieval museum you come across. Most stuff will be from the 17th century upwards as there's just much more preserved from that younger time period. But every so often, you will come across little gems you probably did not know existed.

The chasuble of Bishop Giovanni Angelopte exhibited in the Museo Arcivescovile in Ravenna, Italy, is one of these gems. When you want to see the famous 5th-7th century mosaics for which Ravenna is known, entry to this church museum is included in your ticket. It is only a small museum, and the chasuble is displayed in one of the last rooms. The chasuble is named after a 5th-century bishop of Ravenna. However, the chasuble dates to the second half of the 12th century and was made in Sicily.

The dark blue brocatelle fabric is powdered with gold embroidered eagles and moons. The very fine goldwork embroidery is executed with a single gold thread. Probably in surface couching with a red silken couching thread. Different couching patterns seem to have been used to distinguish the different parts of the eagle (I think I see a brick stitch and a slanted line). The outline is stitched with a thicker red silk, probably in stem stitch. Additional details like the eye have been added in black silk on top of the gold work.

The production of this chasuble falls within the dates of when the Normans ruled the island. This means that this piece was likely made in the Royal Workshops, or Nobiles Officinae, in Palermo. Another famous piece from this multi-ethnic workshop, where Arab embroiderers worked side by side with Greek weavers, is the Mantle of Roger II and other pieces now kept in the Imperial Treasury in Vienna, Austria.

When you are familiar with Opus anglicanum, you might have spotted the perfect opportunity in my itinerary. Indeed. The Bologna cope, made shortly before AD 1304, is kept in the Museo Civico Medievale in Bologna. When you plan to visit, check their opening times, as these are pretty irregular. The cope is displayed in a small room on the ground floor. Ask one of the elderly men on guard duty by showing them a picture on your phone. They might even switch the additional lighting on for you. They are very proud of the piece and enjoy seeing visitors from all over the world study it. You can take as many pictures as you want as long as you don't use flash.

True Opus-nerds will have spotted another great opportunity for studying Opus in the wild: Rome. Not only does the Vatican have two of these beauties (more on that below), but Anagni Cathedral has a whole room full of the stuff. The most famous is the Anagni cope, which was made in the last quarter of the 13th century. Anagni used to be an important town where four medieval popes were born. It was the summer residence of the popes in the 12th and 13th centuries. Nowadays, it is a beautiful medieval Italian small town sitting in the hills southeast of Rome.

Getting to Anagni from Rome is pretty simple when you know how :). So here it comes: if you are brave enough to tackle Italian traffic, you can rent a car. For all others: go by public transport. You can buy a return ticket to Anagni Citta at the Trenitalia vending machines at Roma Termini train station (it is €10,20 for a return ticket). Just pick a return time when you buy your ticket. You do not need to stick to it. This ticket is for both the train to Anagni-Fiuggi station and the 20-minute bus ride from the station to the historical centre in the hills. The bus stands in front of the station building. Download the Omio app to see the train and bus times. These are reliable but irregular. Italian bus stops do not display timetables. Use Google Maps to see where the bus stops are. They are not always opposite of where you were let off the bus when you came. The journey takes about 1 hour and 41 minutes.

The other thing you'll need to do is to book your museum visit. Anagni Cathedral has a painted crypt that is known as the Medieval Sixtine Chapel. It is gorgeous. And it is far more famous than the outstanding medieval embroidery kept in the Cathedral Treasury. The website is completely in Italian. The museum will review your booking request, and you will receive a confirmation by email (in Italian, of course!). Once at the museum, you are allowed to take as many pictures as you want as long as you don't use flash. The room has a timed light switch, so it pays to have a 'helper' with you.

And last but not least, there's the Vatican cope housed in the Vatican. There's also the Lateran cope, which is part of the Vatican Library collection. However, I have no idea if that one is on display or how to get into the library. If anyone knows, please comment on this blog post. The Vatican Cope is displayed in the Vatican Museums. Make sure you have an online ticket that allows you to jump the line. It is worth paying the extra money to avoid the immense queues that people spend hours in. Turn up at the online jump-the-line ticket entry at the time slot you booked, and you will be in the museum within minutes. Then, the frustration begins. Make sure you visit the other 'loose' parts of the Vatican Museums before you join the masses to visit the Sixtine Chapel. Once in this visitor loop, you are not allowed to turn around. Unfortunately for us, the Vatican cope is displayed at the end of the museum visitor route. It is past the Sixtine Chapel and past the bookstores at the end of the part that is called the Museo Cristiano. Even when you push on as much as you can and don't look at anything on your way to the cope, not even the Sixtine Chapel, it will take you about an hour to get there.

The cope is displayed slightly tilted under horrible glass and ditto lighting. There is no caption. Although this is the only vestment on display in all of the Vatican Museums, it was apparently not worthy of a caption. People hurry by and don't really notice this outstanding piece of embroidery. What a shame! The good thing is you can take as many pictures as you like as long as you don't use flash. As the embroidery is so fine and the glare of the glass is so annoying, place your phone gently on the glass of the display case and use the enlarge function of your camera. Again: no flash and no additional light! You'll be amazed at all the details and embroidery techniques you will discover this way.

I hope you liked this summary of my travels in Italy. This will be the basis of future blog posts on the many splendid pieces I saw. But first, I will need to sort my hundreds of pictures. And try to find literature on the more obscure pieces I saw. Many happy hours of research and study await!