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Historical Embroidery News...

Similarities

30/5/2022

13 Comments

 
Yesterday, I gave a brief introduction to the or nue embroidery on the vestments of the Order of the Golden Fleece held in the Imperial Treasury in Vienna, Austria for the 500th show of FiberTalk. My bit runs from 1:08:55 until 1:17:02. When I was preparing my pictures for this short presentation, it suddenly struck me that there were some similarities with a couple of pieces in the collection of the Museum Catharijneconvent in the Netherlands. Not exact matches, but enough similarities to propose that whoever drew the designs for the orphreys from the Catherijneconvent probably knew about the vestments of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Let me show you what I mean.
Picture
Kunstkammer Inv. Nr. 21, Imperial Treasury Vienna
Picture
BMH t622, Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, foto Ruben de Heer
Here you see an orphrey from the Mary cope of the vestments of the Order of the Golden Fleece and on the left an orphrey on cope BMH t622 in Museum Catharijneconvent. Can you see the similarities in the background architecture? The two columns with the arch and the two sharp triangles above look similar on both vestments. Even the colour scheme is the same. The actual blue vault is different in both pieces. In the orphrey on the left, we see a barrel vault and on the right, we see a groin vault. But they are both blue (a popular colour, but not the only one used). Yes, the embroidery on the orphrey from the Order of the Golden Fleece is much more elaborate and of higher skill, but I think the similarities are quite convincing. Interestingly, BHM t622 and ABM t2114 & ABM t2115 are the only orphreys with this type of simple quite bold architecture.
Picture
ABM t2115, Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, foto Ruben de Heer
Picture
Kunstkammer Inv. Nr. 21, Imperial Treasury Vienna
But there is more. Something which has always intrigued me regarding ABM t2115 is the fact that the figure of Philip the Apostle is seen on the back. As far as I am aware, there are no other single-figure orphreys where this is the case. However, figures seen on the back are present on the copes of the Order of the Golden Fleece. The figures on the orphreys from Museum Catharijneconvent are worked in a form of long-and-short stitch characteristic of the medieval period. It is more worked like the systematic types of silk shading seen in Chinese embroidery than like the completely random type taught at the Royal School of Needlework. The figures in the vestments of the Order of the Golden Fleece are worked in or nue. However, in this case, both techniques are executed with a lot of skill. You cannot say that the or nue figures are of higher quality than the silk shaded ones (there is a difference in skill when you compare the backgrounds, see above). Again, the colour scheme in these two figures is remarkably similar.
Picture
Kunstkammer Inv. Nr. 21, Imperial Treasury Vienna
Picture
BMH t622, Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, foto Ruben de Heer
However, the drawings of the figures depicted on the vestments of the Order of the Golden Fleece are much more sophisticated. The figures from the Catharijneconvent orphreys are simpler and perhaps not so stylish. This is best illustrated when you compare the figure of Saint Barbara. Barbara on the left is hot, Barbara on the right not so much :). What is also interesting, the silk shading of Barbara on the right is of far lesser skill than that seen for the figure of Philip the Apostle. This indicates that the orphreys from the Catharijneconvent were stitched by embroiderers with different skill sets.

The vestments for the Order of the Golden Fleece were made around AD 1425-1440 in the Southern Netherlands. The orphreys from Museum Catharijneconvent were made c. AD 1490-1500 probably in the Northern Netherlands. Had the person who drew the design drawings for the orphreys from the Catharijneconvent seen a cope of the Order of the Golden Fleece? Perhaps when visiting the Order's chapel in Brussels? Or was this person perhaps even involved in the management of the vestments of the Order of the Golden Fleece? After all, they were already between 50 and 75 years old and must have received regular care to be preserved in such good state until the present day. Both embroiderers and designers needed an education before they could execute their professions. Maybe travelling to see famous vestments was part of their Continued Professional Development? Whatever the case, I think the similarities seen between the pieces in Vienna and those in the Netherlands show that there is a connection of some sort. What do you think?

Literature
Leeflang, M., Schooten, K. van (Eds.), 2015. Middeleeuwse Borduurkunst uit de Nederlanden. WBOOKS, Zwolle.
Schmitz-von Ledebur, K., 2010. Das Messornat des Ordens vom Goldenen Vlies: Sticker im Dienste der burgundischen Herzöge, in: Bergemann, U.-C., Stauffer, A. (Eds.), Reiche Bilder. Aspekte zur Produktion und Funktion von Stickereien im Spätmittelalter. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg, pp. 25–36.
13 Comments
Andrejka link
30/5/2022 17:08:49

Dear Jessica.
Love to read your blog every time. Although this time I must admit, I don't see the similarities your point out. The architecture is a renaissance variation of the theme. Besides the piece in Catharijneconvent shows how much difficulty the master has with the execution of depth. The floor and the vault try to show space, but the diaper pattern doesn’t show the necessary back corners. The color scheme might be similar but that could be pure coincidence.
This certainly doesn't exclude that the master of Catharijneconvent saw the Golden Fleece pieces but if he did, his knowledge and interpretation weren’t up to the task. I think the master was still very much a person of old ways trying to incorporate new forms as best as he could.

Reply
Acupictrix - Dr Jessica Grimm link
30/5/2022 18:20:41

Dear Andrejka,
Thank you very much for your comment! The thing is: the architecture of the Dutch orphreys is normally Gothic and not Renaissance. Do you have any stitched examples of similar Renaissance backgrounds as those seen on the vestments of the Order of the Golden Fleece or the ones seen on the orphreys from the Catharijneconvent?
Thanks! Jessica

Reply
Andrejka
30/5/2022 19:21:44

Dear Jessica.
I will see if I have any embroidered examples, but in the architecture, there can be some similarities found between Catharijneconvent pieces and the work of painter Petrus Christus, especially his Annunciation, made in 1452. What do you think?

Andrejka
30/5/2022 19:43:10

Dear Jessica.
In the book Late Medieval and Renaissance textiles (Garrett and Reeves, 2018, pp 46-49) I found a set of fifteen embroidered orphrey panels from c 1470 – 90. The book directly conects the figures to the Catharijneconvent pieces.

Acupictrix - Dr Jessica Grimm link
30/5/2022 20:39:37

Dear Andrejka,
Thank you so much for the reference to the pieces in the book! I do have that one, but it is still on the pile 'to be processed'. Although there are already about 1500 pieces in my database, I estimate that I am still missing at least the same number. Yes, those 15 orphreys are indeed an even simpler variation of the ones from the Catharijneconvent. And there is again a figure we see on the back. Intriguing! I am not sure about the Annunciation by Petrus Christus. But I often find it hard to see a painting as an embroidery or vice versa. Do you know this older book: Jansen, B.M., 1948. Laat Gotisch Borduurwerk in Nederland. L.J.C. Boucher, Den Haag.. She was one of the first people to study the Dutch embroideries. And she attempted to catalogue and order the architectural backgrounds. After your initial remark, I looked into the book and found that she too thinks that the background of the Catharijneconvent orphreys is an odd one out. She clearly did not know the pieces in the book you referenced.
Thank you for providing so much new information! I will probably write another follow-up blog next week and link back to you!
Have a great evening, Jessica

Rachel link
30/5/2022 21:10:18

Now this is intriguing! There is always something more to find out, isn't there!

Reply
Acupictrix - Dr Jessica Grimm link
31/5/2022 09:16:40

Never a dull moment, Rachel, when you are working with 500-year old embroideries!

Reply
Andrejka
30/5/2022 21:26:05

Dear Jessica.
No, I don’t know the book, sadly I don’t read Dutch. The first taught that came to mind when I saw the pieces was that the artist that made the initial drawing might have known Italian renaissance architecture, even if the application of the ideas was a bit off. As the artists from the Low counties sometimes traveled to Italy even this early (Petrus Christus was one of them), I am tempted to speculate, that the designer of the Catharijneconvent pieces was also one of the “exchange students” or at least learned with one of the artists with knowledge of Italian architecture.
I’m looking forward to reading your thoughts.

Reply
Acupictrix - Dr Jessica Grimm link
31/5/2022 09:22:17

Dear Andrejka,
I really enjoy our exchange! I think that the designer from the vestments of the Order of the Golden Fleece did indeed go to Italy to study the new rules on Renaissance design that had just been invented there (but the tracery in the pearls is still very much Gothic). But I think that the other two pieces (Catharijneconvent and the ones in the book) were probably drawn by the embroiderer who had seen the vestments of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Just like today, most medieval embroiderers were not the best drawers :). This prossibly explains why the perspective is so off on these pieces. They had clearly seen something they liked and probably thought of as being modern, but they couldn't quite reproduce it. This is also true for the majority of the Gothic designs used as backgrounds in Dutch embroideries.

Reply
Andrejka
31/5/2022 13:12:03

Your blogs are always very informative, and thought-provoking and it's a joy to hear your feedback on my thoughts.
Undoubtedly the cultural connections and reach of the Duchy of Burgundy were vast. Thus the Golden fleece vestments were created by the best masters but currently, I don't have enough knowledge about the history of the Golden Fleece vestments and Catharijneconvent pieces to  argue about (un)connection convincingly. Nonetheless, I think the Catharijneconvent master had to have an independent source for the architecture if not for the drapery.
The  Catharijneconvent architecture is quite different from Golden Fleece one and it"s showing some renaissance influences in the arches and the pillars.

How I wish I had the time and finances to look into these pieces properly.  They seem more and more intriguing.

Susan B Farmer
1/6/2022 00:42:03

Do they still think that Robert Campin (aka, The Master of Flemalle) did the cartoons for the Golden Fleece pieces? There's a lot of information (and phenomenal photographs) in Thurleman's book on Robert Campin.

Reply
Acupictrix - Dr Jessica Grimm link
1/6/2022 19:24:25

Not all vestments were made at the same time. Different painters have been suggested as inspiration for the design drawings: Andre Beauneveus, Hubert & Jan van Eyck, Master of Flemalle, Rogier van der Weyden, Hugo van Goes and Robert Campin. A good overview of which art historian said what up until 2010, can be found in: Brandner, C., 2011. Phänomene textiler Gewandbeobachtungen am Ornat des Ordens vom Goldenen Vlies. MA, Wien. Especially chaper 3 and 4.4.

Reply
Susan B Farmer
3/6/2022 10:14:23

Thanks for the paper reference. I'll have Interlibrary loan get me q copy!




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