Embroideries at Hardwick Hall

Embroideries at Hardwick Hall PDF Author: Santina M. Levey
Publisher: National Trust
ISBN: 9781905400515
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The collection of late 16th-century embroidery, needlework and wrought linen at the National Trust’s Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire is the most important of its type in Britain, and probably in the Western World. Largely commissioned and acquired by the redoubtable Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury – known as ‘Bess of Hardwick’ – these pieces, some 200 in total with many of the highest quality, range from small fragments of exquisite needlework to a dramatic set of huge wall hangings depicting ‘Heroic Women of the Ancient World’. Most have remained at Hardwick for over 400 years. Bess of Hardwick moved in the highest echelons of contemporary society and was on close terms with Queen Elizabeth I. The collection therefore constitutes an invaluable document of social history, reflecting the interests and values of the Queen, her courtiers and Elizabethan patrons of the arts. In the first ever catalogue of this extraordinary collection, Santina Levey looks at each piece in turn, explaining the context to its creation, its symbolism, materials, workmanship and history. Grouped by type, many of the pieces are surprisingly well documented and Levey throws new light on the ways in which they were displayed and even re-used at different periods of their past. She also explains the remarkable range of techniques used on the embroideries, and provides fascinating new information on design sources and motifs.

Embroideries at Hardwick Hall

Embroideries at Hardwick Hall PDF Author: Santina M. Levey
Publisher: National Trust
ISBN: 9781905400515
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
The collection of late 16th-century embroidery, needlework and wrought linen at the National Trust’s Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire is the most important of its type in Britain, and probably in the Western World. Largely commissioned and acquired by the redoubtable Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury – known as ‘Bess of Hardwick’ – these pieces, some 200 in total with many of the highest quality, range from small fragments of exquisite needlework to a dramatic set of huge wall hangings depicting ‘Heroic Women of the Ancient World’. Most have remained at Hardwick for over 400 years. Bess of Hardwick moved in the highest echelons of contemporary society and was on close terms with Queen Elizabeth I. The collection therefore constitutes an invaluable document of social history, reflecting the interests and values of the Queen, her courtiers and Elizabethan patrons of the arts. In the first ever catalogue of this extraordinary collection, Santina Levey looks at each piece in turn, explaining the context to its creation, its symbolism, materials, workmanship and history. Grouped by type, many of the pieces are surprisingly well documented and Levey throws new light on the ways in which they were displayed and even re-used at different periods of their past. She also explains the remarkable range of techniques used on the embroideries, and provides fascinating new information on design sources and motifs.

Bess of Hardwick

Bess of Hardwick PDF Author: Lisa Hopkins
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526101319
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
Born the daughter of a country squire, Bess of Hardwick made four marriages which brought her wealth and status. She built and furnished houses and founded a dynasty which included a granddaughter, Arbella Stuart, who had a claim to the thrones of both England and Scotland.

Elizabethan Treasures

Elizabethan Treasures PDF Author: Santina M. Levey
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, England, houses a world-famous collection of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century textiles. The fact that these exquisite pillow covers, wall hangings, bedcovers, carpets, and upholsteries, many decorated with superb embroidery, have survived in such good condition is little short of miraculous, and due in part to the formidable Countess of Shrewsbury, better known as Bess of Hardwick, who built the house in the 1590s. In her will, Bess instructed her heirs to 'have speciall care and regard to p'serve the same from all manner of wett, mothe and other hurte or spoyle thereof'.

Interwoven Globe

Interwoven Globe PDF Author: Amy Elizabeth Bogansky
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
ISBN: 1588394964
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
Published in conjunction with an exhibition held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Sept. 16, 2013-Jan. 5, 2014.

Emblems for a Queen

Emblems for a Queen PDF Author: Michael Bath
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
"The many pieces of embroidery by Mary Queen of Scots or by Elizabeth Countess of Shrewsbury ('Bess of Hardwick') are among the best-known and most fascinating examples of historical embroidery. However, many questions surrounding their meaning and purpose - and, above all, the sources and patterns used for their imagery (including birds, fish, flowers, monograms, emblems and other devices) - remain unanswered." "In 1548, the five-year-old Queen of Scots left her native Scotland to begin her French upbringing as the future Queen of France and it was here that she learned the art of decorative needlework, continuing with the craft during the last twenty years of her exile and confinement in England. Many of her embroideries have survived and can be seen at Oxburgh Hall (Norfolk), the Victoria and Albert Museum and elsewhere, but many more have since disappeared. In this new study Michael Bath not only describes and illustrates the surviving embroideries, but also documents from early records a large number of those that have disappeared." "Many of these embroidered panels use emblems, combining a symbolic image with a learned adage, and Professor Bath shows how, in their own day, these were believed to hold moral, political and religious messages which expressed the Catholic queen's values, purposes and intentions. For this reason we find records of them in the forgotten files of the Elizabethan secret services. Mary's emblematic embroideries shed new light on issues surrounding one of the most controversial figures in English and Scottish history. At the same time, this new study shows exactly what sources - prints, engravings, book illustrations - the embroiderers drew on for their patterns, and it includes the first full catalogue raisonne of all the known embroideries created by these two remarkable women."--BOOK JACKET.

Embroidering Her Truth

Embroidering Her Truth PDF Author: Clare Hunter
Publisher: Sceptre
ISBN: 1529346266
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
I felt that Mary was there, pulling at my sleeve, willing me to appreciate the artistry, wanting me to understand the dazzle of the material world that shaped her. At her execution Mary, Queen of Scots wore red. Widely known as the colour of strength and passion, it was in fact worn by Mary as the Catholic symbol of martyrdom. In sixteenth-century Europe women's voices were suppressed and silenced. Even for a queen like Mary, her prime duty was to bear sons. In an age when textiles expressed power, Mary exploited them to emphasise her female agency. From her lavishly embroidered gowns as the prospective wife of the French Dauphin to the fashion dolls she used to encourage a Marian style at the Scottish court and the subversive messages she embroidered in captivity for her supporters, Mary used textiles to advance her political agenda, affirm her royal lineage and tell her own story. In this eloquent cultural biography, Clare Hunter exquisitely blends history, politics and memoir to tell the story of a queen in her own voice.

Embroidered Histories

Embroidered Histories PDF Author: Barbara Karl
Publisher: Böhlau Verlag Wien
ISBN: 3205202090
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
Early modern India was an economic core region producing manifold textiles for export. During the sixteenth century a new customer entered the stage and expanded its influence from the city of Goa — Portugal. From early times, the Portuguese had bought and commissioned textiles, among them large embroideries from Bengal and Gujarat, which are the focus of this study. By providing European prints as models for the professional local embroiderers they created a novel product that was successful in Portugal and beyond throughout the seventeenth century. The textiles were deemed valuable and rare enough to be included in different travel accounts, letters and inventories, enabling us to trace their place of production, their transportation to Europe and their reception. Their intricate iconographies reflect political problematics of the time and shed light onto the intercultural circumstances of Portuguese colonial life. Barbara Karl is Curator of Textiles and Carpets at the MAK — Museum für Angewandte Kunst/Gegenwartskunst in Vienna.

Music and Instruments of the Elizabethan Age

Music and Instruments of the Elizabethan Age PDF Author: Michael Fleming
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
ISBN: 1783274212
Category : MUSIC
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
Uses the rare depictions of musical instruments and musical sources found on the Eglantine Table to understand the musical life of the Elizabethan age and its connection to aspects of culture now treated as separate disciplines ofhistorical study.

Hardwick Hall

Hardwick Hall PDF Author: David Adshead
Publisher: Association of Human Rights Institutes series
ISBN: 9780300218909
Category : ARCHITECTURE
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Originally constructed in the late 16th century for the notorious Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury, Hardwick Hall is now among the National Trust's greatest architectural landmarks, with much of its original interior and ornamentation still intact. This splendid publication is the definitive source of scholarship on the remarkably well-preserved exemplar of late-Elizabethan style. Composed of extensive research and newly commissioned photography, this beautifully illustrated book traces the history of the house and its inhabitants through the centuries, showcasing a remarkable collection of portraiture, tapestries, furniture, and gardens, and providing readers with a genuine sense of the house's environment. Published in association with the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

Bess of Hardwick’s Letters

Bess of Hardwick’s Letters PDF Author: Alison Wiggins
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1317175123
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Bess of Hardwick's Letters is the first book-length study of the c. 250 letters to and from the remarkable Elizabethan dynast, matriarch and builder of houses Bess of Hardwick (c. 1527–1608). By surveying the complete correspondence, author Alison Wiggins uncovers the wide range of uses to which Bess put letters: they were vital to her engagement in the overlapping realms of politics, patronage, business, legal negotiation, news-gathering and domestic life. Much more than a case study of Bess's letters, the discussions of language, handwriting and materiality found here have fundamental implications for the way we approach and read Renaissance letters. Wiggins offers readings which show how Renaissance letters communicated meaning through the interweaving linguistic, palaeographic and material forms, according to socio-historical context and function. The study goes beyond the letters themselves and incorporates a range of historical sources to situate circumstances of production and reception, which include Account Books, inventories, needlework and textile art and architecture. The study is therefore essential reading for scholars in historical linguistics, historical pragmatics, palaeography and manuscript studies, material culture, English literature and social history.