seventeen years of age, married Ferdinand, Prince of Spain, before quitting
Lisbon, she repaired to the church of the Madre de Dios, on the Tagus, and
there solemnly offered to the Virgin the jewels and a dress of the richest
Portuguese point she had worn on the day of her espousals. This lace is
described as most magnificent, and was for near a century exhibited under a
glass case to admiring eyes, till, at the French occupation of the
Peninsula, the Duchesse d'Abrantès, or one of the Imperial generals, is
supposed to have made off with it.[313] When Lisbon arose from her ashes
after the terrible earthquake of 1755, the Marquis de Pombal founded large
manufactures of lace, which were carried on under his auspices. Wraxall, in
his _Memoirs_, mentions having visited them.
The fine points in relief of Italy and Spain were the result of such time
and labour as to render them too costly for moderate means. Hence they were
extensively counterfeited. The principal scroll of the pattern was formed
by means of tape or linen cut out and sewn on, and the reliefs were
produced by cords fixed and overcast after the work was finished, thus
substituting linen and cords for parts of {106}the needlework. These
counterfeit points were in France the occasion in 1669 of an ordinance.
[Illustration: Fig. 48.
BOBBIN-LACE.--(Madeira.)]
The modern laces of Portugal and Madeira closely resemble those of Spain;
the wider for flounces are of silk: much narrow lace is made after the
fashion of Mechlin. Both Spain and Portugal enjoy a certain reputation for
their imitation white Chantilly lace. A considerable quantity of coarse
white lace, very effective in pattern, was formerly made in Lisbon and the
environs;[314] this was chiefly exported, _viâ_ Cadiz, to South America.
Both black and white are {107}extensively made in the peninsula of Peniche,
north of Lisbon (Estremadura Province), and employ the whole female
population. Children at four years of age are sent to the lace school, and
are seated at _almofadas_ (pillows) proportioned to their height, on which
they soon learn to manage the bobbins, sometimes sixty dozen or more, with
great dexterity.[315] The nuns of Odivales were, till the dissolution of
the monasteries, famed for their lace fabricated of the fibres of the aloe.
[Illustration: Fig. 49.
BOBBIN-LACE.--(Brazil.)]
Pillow-lace was made at Madeira at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
The coarse kind, a species of _dentelle torchon_, served for trimming
pillow-cases and sheets--"seaming lace," as it was called (Fig. 49).
Sometimes the threads of the linen were drawn out after the manner of
cut-work; but the manufacture had entirely ceased until 1850 (circ.), when
it was re-established by Mrs. Bayman.[316]
{108}Brazil makes a coarse narrow pillow-lace for home consumption.
The Republics of Central and South America show indications of lace-making,
consisting chiefly of darned netting and drawn-work, the general
characteristic of the lace of these countries. The lace-bordered
handkerchiefs of Brazil, and the productions of Venezuela, with the borders
of the linen trousers of the guachos, and the Creva lace of the blacks of
the Province of Minas Geraes, are the finest specimens of drawn-work. The
lace of Chili is of the old lozenge pattern, and men also appear to be
employed on the work. In Paraguay there are two sorts of work--Nanduti or
"toile d'arraignée," made in silk or thread by a needle on a cardboard
pattern by the copper-coloured natives as an industry; also embroidery and
drawn thread-work on linen, of which there are specimens in the Victoria
and Albert Museum--all traditions of the European missionaries and traders
who first colonised the country.
PLATE XXXIV.
[Illustration: SPANISH.--Pillow made nineteenth century. Réseau of two
threads twisted and crossed. Slightly reduced.]
PLATE XXXV
[Illustration: PARAGUAY. "NANDUTI."--End of nineteenth century. Reduced
rather over half.
Photos by A. Dryden from private collections.]
_To face page 108._
{109}CHAPTER VII.
FLANDERS.
"For lace, let Flanders bear away the belle."
--Sir C. Hanbury Williams.
"In French embroidery and in Flanders lace
I'll spend the income of a treasurer's place."
--_The Man of Taste_, Rev. W. Bramstone.
Flanders and Italy together dispute the invention of lace. In many towns of
the Low Countries are pictures of the fifteenth century, in which are
portrayed personages adorned with lace,[317] and Baron Reiffenberg, a
Belgian writer, asserts that lace cornettes, or caps, were worn in that
country as early as the fourteenth century. As evidence for the early
origin of pillow-lace in the Low Countries, Baron Reiffenberg mentions an
altar-piece, attributed to Quentin Matsys (in a side chapel of the choir of
St. Peter's, at Louvain), in which a girl is represented making lace with
bobbins on a pillow with a drawer, similar to that now in use.[318] There
exists a series of engravings after Martin de Vos (1580-85), giving the
occupations of the seven ages of life: in the third,[319] assigned to _âge
mûr_, is seen a girl, sitting with a pillow on her knees, making lace (Fig.
50). The occupation must have been then common, or the artist would
scarcely have chosen it to characterise the habits of his country.
Of the two paintings attributed to Matsys--that in St. Peter's, at Louvain,
and that in Lierre, only the former is now assigned to the artist. Both
pictures are said to be of the end of the fifteenth century or beginning of
the sixteenth.
{110}[Illustration: Fig. 50.
LACE-MAKING.--(After Martin de Vos.)]
The triptych at Louvain is reproduced and described in detail by Van Even
in his work, _Louvain dans le passé et dans le présent_;[320] it consists
of five panels, the centre panel representing "La famille de Sainte Anne";
but among all the figures none, however, appear to be engaged in making
lace or, indeed, in any form of needlework.
PLATE XXXVI.
[Illustration: FLEMISH. PORTION OF BED COVER, BOBBIN-MADE.--First half of
seventeenth century. This is said to have belonged to Philip IV. of Spain.
Above the Austrian eagle and crown is the collar of the Golden Fleece. The
workmanship is of great skill.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
_To face page 110._
{111}It has been suggested that the "Lace-maker making lace with bobbins on
a pillow with a drawer" (alluded to by Baron Reiffenberg) in the triptych
is taken from the above-mentioned engravings by Nicholas de Bruyel and
Assuerus van Londonzeel, after the drawings of Martin de Vos.
The historian of the Duke of Burgundy[321] declares Charles the Bold to
have lost his _dentelles_ at the battle of Granson, 1476; he does not state
his authority. Probably they were gold or silver, for no other exist among
his relics.
In Vecellio's _Corona_ of 1593 and 1596 are two designs of geometrical
lace--"ponto fiamengho" and "Manegetti di ponto Fiamengo," point de
Flandre.
In 1651, Jacob v. Eyck, a Flemish poet, sang the praises of lace-making in
Latin verse. "Of many arts one surpasses all; the threads woven by the
strange power of the hand, threads which the dropping spider would in vain
attempt to imitate, and which Pallas would confess she had never known;"
and a deal more in the same style.[322]
The lace-manufacture of the Netherlands, as Baron Reiffenberg writes, has a
glorious past. After exciting the jealousy of other European nations, in
the sixteenth century, when every industrial art fled from the horrors of
religious persecution, the lace fabric alone upheld itself, and by its
prosperity saved Flanders from utter ruin. Every country of Northern
Europe,[323] Germany, and England, has learned the art of lace-making from
Flanders. After the establishment of the Points de France by Colbert,
Flanders was alarmed at the number of lace-makers who emigrated, and passed
an act, dated Brussels, December 26th, 1698, {112}threatening with
punishment any who should suborn her workpeople.
Lace-making forms an abundant source of national wealth to Belgium, and
enables the people of its superannuated cities to support themselves, as it
were, on female industry.[324] One-fourth of the whole population (150,000
women) were said to be thus engaged, in 1861. But a small number assemble
in the ateliers; the majority work at home. The trade now flourishes as in
the most palmy days of the Netherlands.
[Illustration: Fig. 51.
CAP OF THE EMPEROR CHARLES V.--(Musée de Cluny.)
This engraving is not accurately drawn. The spaces contain birds and
crosses, and not sprigs.]
[Illustration: Fig. 52.
ISABELLA CLARA EUGENIA, DAUGHTER OF PHILIP II., ARCHDUCHESS OF AUSTRIA,
GOVERNESS OF THE NETHERLANDS.--Died 1633.
_To face page 112._]
{113}Lace forms a part of female education in Belgium. Charles V. commanded
it to be taught in the schools and convents. Examples of the manufactures
of his period may be seen in the cap said to be worn by him under his
crown, and in the contemporary portrait of his sister Mary, Queen of
Hungary. This cap, long preserved in the treasury of the bishop-princes of
Basle, has now passed into the Musée de Cluny (Fig. 51). It is of fine
linen; the imperial arms are embroidered in relief, alternate with designs
in lacis of exquisite workmanship.[325]
[Illustration: Fig. 53.
MARY, QUEEN OF HUNGARY, GOVERNESS OF THE LOW COUNTRIES. +1558.--(From her
portrait, Musée de Versailles.)]
Queen Mary's cuffs (Fig. 53) are of the geometric pattern of the age, and
we may presume, of Flanders make, as she was Governess of the Low Countries
from 1530 till her death. The grand-daughter of Charles V., the Infanta
Isabella, who brought the Low Countries as her dower,[326] appears in her
portraits (Fig. 52) most resplendent in lace, and her ruff rivals in size
those of our Queen Elizabeth, or Reine Margot.
But to return to our subject. Of the lace schools there were nearly 900 in
1875, either in the convents or founded by private charity. At the age of
five small girls commence {114}their apprenticeship; by ten they earn their
maintenance; and it is a pretty sight, an "école dentellière," the children
seated before their pillows, twisting their bobbins with wonderful
dexterity. (Fig. 54.)
[Illustration: Fig. 54.
A BELGIAN LACE SCHOOL.]
In a tract of the seventeenth century entitled, _England's Improvement by
Sea and Land, to outdo the Dutch without Fighting_,[327] we have an amusing
account of one of these establishments. "Joining to this spinning school is
one for maids weaving bone lace, and in all towns there are schools
according to the bigness and multitude of the children. I will show you how
they are governed. First, there is a large room, and in the middle thereof
a little box like a pulpit. Second, there are benches built about the room
as they are in our playhouses. And in the box in the middle of the room the
grand mistress, with a long white wand in her hand. If she observes any of
them idle, she reaches them a tap, and if that will not do, she rings a
bell, which, by a little cord, is attached to the box. She points out the
offender, and she is taken into another room and chastised. And I believe
this way of ordering the young women in Germany (Flanders) is one great
cause that the German women have so little twit-twat,[328] and I am sure it
will be as well were it so in England. There the children emulate the
father--here they beggar him. Child," he winds up, "I charge you tell this
to thy wyfe in bed, and it may be that she, understanding the benefit it
will be to her and her children, will turn Dutchwoman and endeavour to save
moneys." Notwithstanding this good advice, in 1768 England received from
Flanders lace-work £250,000 to her disadvantage, as compared to her
exports.
[Illustration: Fig. 55.
OLD FLEMISH BOBBIN LACE.
_To face page 114._]
{115}[Illustration: Fig. 56.
OLD FLEMISH (Trolle Kant).
The piece of lace from which this woodcut is taken has five or six
different designs all joined together; probably patterns sent round for
orders.]
The old Flemish laces are of great beauty, some of varied grounds. Fig. 56
represents a description of lace called in the country "Trolle kant," a
name which has been transferred to our own lace counties, where lace of a
peculiar {116}make is styled Trolly, with a heavy cordonnet which is called
gimp or Trolly. _Kant_ in Flemish is "lace."
At one period much lace was smuggled into France from Belgium by means of
dogs trained for the purpose. A dog was caressed and petted at home, fed on
the fat of the land, then after a season sent across the frontier, where he
was tied up, half-starved and ill-treated. The skin of a bigger dog was
then fitted to his body, and the intervening space filled with lace. The
dog was then allowed to escape and make his way home, where he was kindly
welcomed with his contraband charge. These journeys were repeated till the
French Custom House, getting scent, by degrees put an end to the traffic.
Between 1820 and 1836 40,278 dogs were destroyed, a reward of three francs
being given for each.[329]
According to some authorities the earliest lace made in Flanders was of the
kind known as Pillow Guipure. The pattern is made as of tape, in flowing
Renaissance style, sometimes connected by brides, and sometimes altogether
without brides, when the points of the pattern touch each other. In the
specimens of this type of lace in the Victoria and Albert Museum there is
apparently little in the laces by which the country of their origin may be
identified. Sometimes they have been considered French, sometimes Flemish,
and sometimes Italian. [See the specimens of tape-lace in the Catalogue of
the lace in the Victoria and Albert Museum, p. 49, by A. S. Cole.] (Plate
XXXVIII.)
BRUSSELS (BRABANT).
"More subtile web Arachne cannot spin."--Spenser.
"From Lisle I came to Brussels, where most of the fine laces are made you
see worn in England."--Lord Chesterfield, 1741.
At what period the manufacture of Brussels lace commenced we are ignorant;
but, judging from the earlier patterns, it may be placed at the beginning
of the sixteenth century. The ancient churches of Brabant possess, it is
said, many precious specimens, the gifts of munificent princes who have at
all periods shown a predilection for Brussels lace, and in every way
promoted its manufacture. In usage it is termed Point d'Angleterre, an
error explained to us by history.
PLATE XXXVII.
[Illustration: BRUSSELS. POINT D'ANGLETERRE À BRIDES. CROWN OF A CAP.--Last
half of seventeenth century.
The property of Mr. Arthur Blackborne.]
PLATE XXXVIII.
[Illustration: FLEMISH. TAPE LACE, BOBBIN-MADE.--Seventeenth century.
Photos by A. Dryden.]
_To face page 116._
{117}In 1662 the English Parliament, alarmed at the sums of money expended
on foreign point, and desirous to protect the English bone-lace
manufacture, passed an Act prohibiting the importation of all foreign lace.
The English lace-merchants, at a loss how to supply the Brussels point
required at the court of Charles II., invited Flemish lace-makers to settle
in England and there establish the manufacture. The scheme, however, was
unsuccessful. England did not produce the necessary flax, and the lace made
was of an inferior quality. The merchants therefore adopted a more simple
expedient. Possessed of large capital, they bought up the choicest laces of
the Brussels market, and then smuggling them over to England, sold them
under the name of point d'Angleterre, or "English Point."[330]
This fact is, curiously enough, corroborated in a second memorandum given
by the Venetian ambassador to the English Court in 1695, already mentioned
by an informant in London, who states that Venetian point is no longer in
fashion, but "that called English point, which, you know, is not made here,
but in Flanders, and only bears the name of English to distinguish it from
the others." "Questo chiamato punto d'Inghilterra, si sappia che non si fa
qui, ma in Fiandra, et porta solamente questo nome d'Inghilterra per
distintione dagli altri."
The account of the seizure made by the Marquis de Nesmond of a vessel laden
with Flanders lace, bound for England, in 1678[331] will afford some idea
of the extent to which this smuggling was carried on. The cargo comprised
744,953 ells of lace, without enumerating handkerchiefs, collars, fichus,
aprons, petticoats, fans, gloves, etc., all of the same material. From this
period "point de Bruxelles" became more and more unknown, and was at last
effaced by "point d'Angleterre,"[332] a name it still retains.[333]
On consulting, however, the English Royal Inventories of {118}the time, we
find no mention of "English point." In France, on the other hand, the
fashion books of the day[334] commend to the notice of the reader, "Corsets
chamarrés de point d'Angleterre," with vests, gloves, and cravats trimmed
with the same material. Among the effects of Madame de Simiane, dated 1681,
were many articles of English point;[335] and Monseigneur the Archbishop of
Bourges, who died some few years later, had two cambric toilettes trimmed
with the same.[336]
The finest Brussels lace can only be made in the city itself. Antwerp,
Ghent, and other localities have in vain tried to compete with the capital.
The little town of Binche, long of lace-making celebrity, has been the most
successful. Binche, however, now only makes pillow flowers (point plat),
and those of an inferior quality.
When, in 1756, Mrs. Calderwood visited the Béguinage at Brussels, she wrote
to a friend describing the lace-making. "A part of their work is grounding
lace; the manufacture is very curious. One person works the flowers. They
are all sold separate, and you will see a very pretty sprig, for which the
worker only gets twelve sous. The masters who have all these people
employed give them the thread to make them; this they do according to a
pattern, and give them out to be grounded; after this they give them to a
third hand, who 'hearts' all the flowers with the open work. That is what
makes this lace so much dearer than the Mechlin, which is wrought all at
once."[337]
The thread used in Brussels lace is of extraordinary fineness. It is made
of flax grown in Brabant, at Hal and Rebecq-Rognon.[338] The finest quality
is spun in dark underground rooms, for contact with the dry air causes the
thread to break, so fine is it as almost to escape the sight. The feel of
the thread as it passes through the fingers is the surest guide. The
thread-spinner closely examines every inch drawn from her distaff, and when
any inequality occurs stops her wheel to repair the mischief. Every
artificial help is given to the eye. A background of dark paper is placed
to throw out the thread, and the room so arranged as to admit one single
ray of light upon the work. The life of a Flemish thread-spinner is
unhealthy, and her work requires the greatest skill; her wages are
therefore proportionably high.
[Illustration: Fig. 57.
BRUSSELS NEEDLE-POINT.
_To face page 118._]
{119}It is the fineness of the thread which renders the real Brussels
ground (_vrai réseau_, called in Flanders, "droschel") so costly.[339] The
difficulty of procuring this fine thread at any cost prevented the art
being established in other countries. We all know how, during the last
fifty years of the bygone century, a mania existed in the United Kingdom
for improving all sorts of manufactures. The Anti-Gallican Society gave
prizes in London; Dublin and Edinburgh vied with their sister capital in
patriotism. Every man would establish something to keep our native gold
from crossing the water. Foreign travellers had their eyes open, and Lord
Garden, a Scotch Lord of Session, who visited Brussels in 1787, thus writes
to a countryman on the subject: "This day I bought you ruffles and some
beautiful Brussels lace, the most light and costly of all manufactures. I
had entertained, as I now suspect, a vain ambition to attempt the
introduction of it into my humble parish in Scotland, but on inquiry I was
discouraged. The thread is of so exquisite a fineness they cannot make it
in this country. It is brought from Cambrai and Valenciennes in French
Flanders, and five or six different artists are employed to form the nice
part of this fabric, so that it is a complicated {120}art which cannot be
transplanted without a passion as strong as mine for manufactures, and a
purse much stronger. At Brussels, from one pound of flax alone they can
manufacture to the value of £700 sterling."
There were two kinds of ground used in Brussels lace, the bride and the
réseau. The bride was first employed, but, even a century back,[340] had
been discontinued, and was then only made to order. Nine ells of
"Angleterre à bride" appear in the bills of Madame du Barry.[341] The lace
so made was generally of most exquisite workmanship, as many magnificent
specimens of "bas d'aube,"[342] now converted into flounces, attest.
Sometimes bride and réseau were mixed.[343] In the inventories the
description of ground is always minutely specified.[344] (See Plates
XXXVII., XLVII., XLVIII., XLIX., LI.)
[Illustration: Fig. 58.
BRUSSELS NEEDLE-POINT.
_To face page 120._]
[Illustration: Fig. 58A.
BRUSSELS. POINT À L'AIGUILLE.--Formerly belonged to H.M. Queen Charlotte.
_To face page 120._]
{121}The réseau was made in two ways,[345] by hand (à l'aiguille), and on
the pillow (au fuseau). The needleground is worked from one flower to
another, as in Fig. 44. The pillow is made in small strips of an inch in
width, and from seven to forty-five inches long, joined together by a
stitch long known to the lace-makers of Brussels and Bayeux only,[346]
called "point de raccroc"--in English, "fine joining"--and consisting of a
fresh stitch formed with a needle between the two pieces to be united. It
requires the greatest nicety to join the segments of shawls and other large
pieces. Since machine-made net has come into use the "vrai réseau" is
rarely made, save for royal trousseaux (Figs. 57 and 58).
There are two kinds of flowers: those made with the needle are called
"point à l'aiguille"; those on the pillow, "point plat."[347] The best
flowers are made in Brussels itself, where they have attained a perfection
in the relief (point brodé) unequalled by those made in the surrounding
villages and in Hainault. The last have one great fault. Coming soiled from
the hands of the lace-makers, they have a reddish-yellow cast. In order to
obviate this evil the workwoman, previous to sewing the flowers on the
ground, places them in a packet of white lead and beats them with the hand,
an operation injurious to the health of the lace-cleaner. It also causes
the lace to turn black when laid in trunks or wardrobes in contact with
flannel or other woollen tissues bleached with sulphur, which discolours
the white lead. Bottles containing scent, the sea air, or a heated room,
will produce the same disagreeable change, and the colour is with
difficulty restored. This custom of powdering yellow lace is of old date.
We read in 1782[348]: "On tolère en même temps les dentelles jaunes et fort
sales, poudrez-les à blanc pour cacher leur vetusté, dut la fraude
paroître, n'importe, vous avez des dentelles vous êtes bien dispensé de la
propreté mais non du luxe." Mrs. Delany writes in 1734: "Your head and
ruffles are being made up, but Brussels always look yellow;" and she was
right, for flax thread soon returns to its natural "crêmée" hue. Yet,
"How curled her hair, how clean her Brussels lace!"
exclaims the poet.[349] Later, the taste for discoloured lace became
general. The "Isabelle" or cream-coloured tint was found to be more
becoming than a dazzling white, and our coquettish grandmothers, who prided
themselves upon the colour of their point, when not satisfied with the
richness of its hue, had their lace dipped in coffee.
{122}In the old laces the plat flowers were worked in together with the
ground. (Fig. 59.) Application lace was unknown to our ancestors.[350] The
making of Brussels lace is so complicated that each process is, as before
mentioned, assigned to a different hand, who works only at her special
department. The first, termed--
1. Drocheleuse (Flemish, drocheles), makes the vrai réseau.
2. Dentelière (kantwerkes), the footing.
3. Pointeuse (needlewerkes), the point à l'aiguille flowers.
4. Platteuse (platwerkes), makes the plat flowers.
5. Fonneuse (grondwerkes), is charged with the open work (jours) in the
plat.