The Age of Opus Anglicanum


Book Description

"The papers gathered in this publicatioin are the fruits of a Symposium day held at the Victoria and Albert Museum on 15th February 2013"--Page 7.




English Medieval Embroidery


Book Description

An introduction to the design, production and use of luxury embroideries in medieval England (c. 1200-1530) In medieval Europe, embroidered textiles were indispensable symbols of wealth and power. Owing to their quality, complexity and magnificence, English embroideries enjoyed international demand and can be traced in Continental sources as opus anglicanum (English work). Essays by leading experts explore the embroideries' artistic and social context, while catalogue entries examine individual masterpieces. Medieval embroiderers lived in a tightly knit community in London, and many were women who can be identified by name. Comparisons between their work and contemporary painting challenge modern assumptions about the hierarchy of artistic media. Contributors consider an outstanding range of examples, highlighting their craftsmanship and exploring the world in which they were created.




The Roman Book


Book Description

What was a Roman book? How did it differ from modern books? How were Roman books composed, published and distributed during the high period of Roman literature that encompassed, among others, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Martial, Pliny and Tacitus? What was the ‘scribal art’ of the time? What was the role of bookshops and libraries? The publishing of Roman books has often been misrepresented by false analogies with contemporary publishing. This wide-ranging study re-examines, by appeal to what Roman authors themselves tell us, both the raw material and the aesthetic criteria of the Roman book, and shows how slavery was the ‘enabling infrastructure’ of literature. Roman publishing is placed firmly in the context of a society where the spoken still ranked above the written, helping to explain how some books and authors became politically dangerous and how the Roman book could be both an elite cultural icon and a contributor to Rome’s popular culture through the mass medium of the theatre.




Bayeux Stitch


Book Description

The term 'Bayeux stitch' often describes the laid and couched work that was used across Europe in the middle ages. This practical book of techniques and projects demonstrates the simple style of the Bayeux tapestry, before showing variations based on both surviving examples and adaptations of medieval manuscripts. It explains the narrow range of stitches used in laid and couched work and introduces the limited colour palette in medieval embroidery and the rhythmic use of colour. There are twelve projects with step-by-step sequences that illustrate how to stitch subjects ranging from knights to trees, and from dragons to bishops. By introducing subtle variations of techniques and materials, Tanya Bentham illustrates the endless potential of this beautiful embroidery, and brings it alive for today's embroiderers.







Late Medieval and Renaissance Textiles


Book Description

This publication, the first of its kind in many decades, draws together thirty-six rare and sumptuous European textiles created between the late fourteenth and late sixteenth centuries. Incorporating objects made both for secular and liturgical use, it explores the contexts of their creation, their functions and purpose, and their changing fortunes over the course of the subsequent centuries. After goldsmiths' work, tapestries and embroideries were among the costliest art forms of the Middle Ages, due to their precious materials and the countless hours required to produce them. Whether hung on the wall or worn about the person, textiles provided a potent display of their owners' wealth and status. Their vivid decoration also provided the perfect backdrop for courtly pageants, royal ceremonies, and liturgical festivals. Even the quickest glance at late medieval paintings shows just how forcefully textiles shaped the visual texture of the occasions they depict. Though always the works of specialist craftsmen, in the later Middle Ages textiles were often made following designs supplied by the leading painters and designers of their age. Yet only a tiny fraction of what was made has survived. The fragility of the fabrics, light damage and insects, together with alterations of use, have made this material extremely rare. This catalog includes thirty-six late medieval and Renaissance textiles, many published for the first time, that together span a period of almost two hundred years. They are organized by country, starting with otherwise unrecorded examples of 'opus anglicanum' made in English workshops between around 1400 and the eve of the Reformation. They are followed by textiles from France, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Different materials and classes of textile are grouped together within each of these regional divisions. For instance, liturgical vestments and altar hangings sit side by side with sumptuous velvets and delicately embroidered tablecloths. Together, they encapsulate the incredible breadth of Europe's flourishing textile industries during this period. Rosamund Garrett and Matthew Reeves have carefully recorded the physical structure, processes of manufacture, and condition of these remarkable and sometimes complex works, and have situated them within the wider contexts of their production and the cultural climate in which they were made.




The Lost Art of the Anglo-Saxon World


Book Description

This latest title in the highly successful Ancient Textiles series is the first substantial monograph-length historiography of early medieval embroideries and their context within the British Isles. The book brings together and analyses for the first time all 43 embroideries believed to have been made in the British Isles and Ireland in the early medieval period. New research carried out on those embroideries that are accessible today, involving the collection of technical data, stitch analysis, observations of condition and wear-marks and microscopic photography supplements a survey of existing published and archival sources. The research has been used to write, for the first time, the ‘story’ of embroidery, including what we can learn of its producers, their techniques, and the material functions and metaphorical meanings of embroidery within early medieval Anglo-Saxon society. The author presents embroideries as evidence for the evolution of embroidery production in Anglo-Saxon society, from a community-based activity based on the extended family, to organized workshops in urban settings employing standardized skill levels and as evidence of changing material use: from small amounts of fibers produced locally for specific projects to large batches brought in from a distance and stored until needed. She demonstrate that embroideries were not simply used decoratively but to incorporate and enact different meanings within different parts of society: for example, the newly arrived Germanic settlers of the fifth century used embroidery to maintain links with their homelands and to create tribal ties and obligations. As such, the results inform discussion of embroidery contexts, use and deposition, and the significance of this form of material culture within society as well as an evaluation of the status of embroiderers within early medieval society. The results contribute significantly to our understanding of production systems in Anglo-Saxon England and Ireland.




Clothing the Past: Surviving Garments from Early Medieval to Early Modern Western Europe


Book Description

An astonishing number of medieval garments survive, more-or-less complete. Here the authors present 100 items, ranging from homely to princely. The book’s wide-ranging introduction discusses the circumstances in which garments have survived to the present; sets and collections; constructional and decorative techniques; iconography; inscriptions on garments; style and fashion. Detailed descriptions and discussions explain technique and ornament, investigate alleged associations with famous people (many of them spurious) and demonstrate, even when there are no known associations, how a garment may reveal its own biography: a story that can include repair, remaking, recycling; burial, resurrection and veneration; accidental loss or deliberate deposition. The authors both have many publications in the field of medieval studies, including previous collaborations on medieval textiles such as Medieval Textiles of the British Isles AD 450-1100: an Annotated Bibliography (2007), the Encyclopedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles of the British Isles (2012) and online bibliographies.




By the Pen


Book Description




Gaspard's Foxtrot


Book Description

Gaspard's friend Finty the dog and her owner Honey are travelling to a classical concert in London's Hyde Park - if only Gaspard could join them! But while good-naturedly attempting to return Honey's scarf, the handsomest fox in London suddenly finds himself on a tour through the city's streets aboard Finty's bus passing some of London's best sight-seeing spots such as: Islington Green, Museum Street, Chinatown, the theatres of the West End, Piccadilly and many more. This latest adventure in the Gaspard the Fox series sees Gaspard thrust literally to centre stage as he becomes a musical inspiration. 'The wonderful thing about Gaspard the Fox is that it's hard to imagine a time when he was never there. He has the look and sound - in the words and pictures on the page and the music of the orchestra - of a classic. Three cheers for Gaspard!' - Philip Ardagh, Roald Dahl Funny Prize winning author 'Another wonderful tale of the exciting adventures of Gaspard, our urban fox friend, beautifully told and illustrated. A real treat'. - Dame Patricia Routledge 'This is a lovely story, beautifully illustrated and speaks to the hearts of all children, young and old' - Marin Alsop, Conductor




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