De basso rilevar, ch' Aracne mai,
E chi la vinse nol faria più bello.
Mira quel bel fogliame, ch' un acanto
Sembra, che sopra un mur vada carponi.
Mira quei fior, ch' un candido ne cade
Vicino al seme, apr' or la bocia l'altro.
Quei cordiglin, che'l legan d'ognitorno,
Come rilevan ben! mostrando ch' ella
E' la vera maestra di quest' arte,
Com ben compartiti son quei punti!
Ve' come son ugual quei bottoncelli,
Come s' alzano in guisa d'un bel colle
L'un come l' altro!...
Questi merli da man, questi trafori
Fece pur ella, et questo punto a spina,
Che mette in mezzo questo cordoncello,
Ella il fe pure, ella lo fece."
--_Elegia sopra un Collaretto_,
Firenzuola (circ. 1520).
[208] Rymer's _Foedera_ (38 Hen. VIII. = 1546).
[209] 4 Hen. VII. = 1488-89.
[210] _Compte des dépenses de la maison de Madame Marguerite de France,
Soeur du Roi._--Bib. Nat. MSS. F. Fr. 10,394.
[211] _Comptes de la Reine de Navarre._--Arch. Nat., K. K. 170.
[212] In 1535.
[213] She died in 1862.
[214] See VENICE, 1.
[215] _Inventaire du Trésor de N. D. de Lorette._--Bib. Nat. MSS.
[216] _Letters from Italy._
[217] The _gremial_, or apron, placed on the lap of the Roman Catholic
bishops when performing sacred functions in a sitting
posture.--Pugin's _Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament_.
[218] This reminds one of the lines of Goldsmith, in his poem, "The Haunch
of Venison," the giving of venison to hungry poets who were in want
of mutton; he says:
"Such dainties to send them their health it would hurt;
It's like sending them ruffles when wanting a shirt."
[219] _A true Relation of the Travailes, and most miserable Captivitie of
W. Davies._ Lond., 1614.
[220] _An Italian Voyage, or a Complete Journey through Italy_, by Rich.
Lassels, Gent. 2nd edit., Lond., 1698. A reprint, with additions by
another hand, of the original edition. Paris, 1670. Lowndes'
_Bibliographer's Manual_. Bohn's new edit.
[221] "Portano alcune vesti di tela di lino sottile, lunghe fino in terra,
con maniche larghe assai, attorno alle quali sono attaccati alcuni
merletti lavorati di refe sottilissimo."--Habiti di donna dell'
Isola d' Ischia. _Degli Habiti Antichi e Moderni di Diverse Parti
del Mondo di Cesare Vecellio._ Venezia, 1590.
[222] We have among the points given by Taglienti (1530), "pugliese." Lace
is still made in Puglia and the other southern provinces of Naples
and in Sicily.
The Contessa di Brazza says that Punto Pugliese resembled Russian
and Roumanian embroidery.
[223] Brydone, _Tour through Sicily_. 1773.
[224] From the tax-books preserved in the Archives of S. George, it
appears that a tax upon gold thread of four danari upon every lira
in value of the worked material was levied, which between 1411 and
1420 amounted to L. 73,387. From which period this industry rapidly
declined, and the workers emigrated.--Merli.
[225] Signore Tessada, the great lace fabricant of Genoa, carries back the
manufacture of Italian lace as early as the year 1400, and forwarded
to the author specimens which he declares to be of that date.
[226] "Laqueo serico Jeano de coloribus, ad 5s. per doz." _G. W. A.
Eliz._--16 & 17 and 19 & 20. P. R. O.
[227] Dated 1639.
[228] _Garderobe de feue Madame._ 1646. Bib. Nat. MSS. F. Fr. 11,426.
[229] Le Vray Théatre d'Honneur et de Chevalerie. Paris, 1648.
[230] Queen Christina is described by the Grande Mademoiselle, on the
occasion of her visit, as wearing "au cou, un mouchoir de point de
Gênes, noué avec un ruban couleur de feu."--_Mém. de Mademoiselle de
Montpensier._
"Item, ung peignoir, tablier et cornette de toile baptiste garnie de
point de Gênes."--1644. _Inv. de la Comtesse de Soissons._
"Un petit manteau brodé et son collet de point de Gênes."--_The
Chevalier d'Albret._
"Linge, bijoux et points de Gênes."--Loret, _Muse Historique_. 1650.
"Item, ung autre mouchoir de point de Gênes."--_Inv. du Maréchal de
La Motte._ 1657.
[231] _Mém._, t. xiv., p. 286.
[232] Signore Tessada has in his possession a pair of gold lappets of very
beautiful design, made at Genoa about the year 1700.
[233] _Letters from Italy._ 1770.
[234] Cavasco. _Statistique de Gênes._ 1840.
[235] The bobbins appear to have been made in Italy of various materials.
We have _Merletti a fusi_, in which case they are of wood. The
Sforza inventory gives _a doii fuxi_, "two bobbins," then _a ossi_,
"of bone," and, lastly, _a piombini_; and it is very certain that
lead was used for bobbins in Italy. See PARASOLE (1600).
[236] _Memorie Storiche di Santa Margherita._ Genoese pillow-laces are not
made with the réseau, but joined by bars. Of Milan lace it is said,
"It resembles Genoese pillow-lace in having the same scrolls and
flowers formed by a ribbon in close stitch, with a _mesh_ or _tulle_
ground, whereas the Genoese lace is held together by bars."--C. di
Brazza, _Old and New Lace in Italy_ (1893).
[237] Lefébure writes, "A version of these Milanese laces has been
produced by using tape for the scroll forms and flowers, and filling
in the open portions between the tapes by needlework stitches." The
C. di Brazza calls similar lace _Punto di Rapallo_ or _Liguria_, a
lace formed by a ribbon or braid of close lace following the outline
of the design with fancy gauze stitches made by knotting with a
crochet needle. The special characteristic of this lace is that the
braid is constantly thrown over what has gone before. The design is
connected by brides. A modification, where the braid is very fine
and narrow, and the turnings extremely complicated, and enriched by
no fancy stitches between, is _Punto a Vermicelli_.--_Old and New
Lace in Italy._
[238] Communicated by Sig. Gio. Tessada, Junr., of Genoa.
[239] Gandolfi, _Considerazioni Agrario_.
[240] A small borgo, about an hour's drive from Savona, on the road
leading to Genoa.
[241] Cav. Merli.
[242] In the Albert Museum of Exeter are several of these tallies marked
with the names of their owners--Bianca, Maria Crocera, and others.
[243] "Many skilful lace-makers in Italy have for some time imitated the
old laces and sold them as such to travellers. A Venetian
lace-worker, now residing at Ferrara, can copy any old lace known"
(Mrs. Palliser, 1864).
[244] This lappet, 357-68, in the Victoria and Albert Museum collection,
was described by Mrs. Palliser as "Argentella," and supposed to be
of Genoese workmanship. "Formerly much of it was to be met with in
the curiosity shops of that city, but now it is of rare occurrence.
The Duchess of Genoa possesses a splendid flounce of the same lace,
with the Doria eagle introduced into the pattern. It formerly
belonged to the Marchesa Barbaretta Saule" (Mrs. Palliser, _History
of Lace_, 1864). Contessa di Brazza suggests that Argentella was the
Italian for Argentan.
[245] Called by the people of the Riviera, _filo del baccalà di
Castellaro_. Aloe fibre was formerly used for thread (Letter of Sig.
C. G. Schiappapietra). It is also styled _filo di freta_ in the
Venetian sumptuary ordinances.
[246] The Author has to express her grateful thanks to Signore Don Tommaso
Torteroli, librarian to the city of Savona, and the author of an
interesting pamphlet (_Storia dei Merletti di Genova lavorati in
Albissola_, Sinigaglia, 1863), for specimens of the ancient laces of
Albissola, and many other valuable communications.
[247] A word of Arabic derivation, used for denoting a fringe for
trimming, whether cotton, thread, or silk.
[248] This custom of ornamenting the ends of the threads of linen was from
the earliest times common, and is still occasionally met with both
in the north and south of Europe. "At Bayonne they make the finest
of linen, some of which is made open like network, and the thread is
finer than hair" (_Ingenious and Diverting Letters of a Lady's
Travels in Spain_, London, 1679).
There is a painting of the "Last Supper" at Hampton Court Palace, by
Sebastian Ricci, in which the tablecloth is edged with cut-work; and
in the great picture in the Louvre, by Paul Veronese, of the supper
at the house of Simon the Canaanite, the ends of the tablecloth are
likewise fringed and braided like the _macramé_.
[249] LACE SCHOOLS IN ITALY.--At Coccolia, near Ravenna, Countess Pasolini
founded a school on her property to teach and employ the peasant
women and copy antique designs. Another more recently established
school near Udine, in the province of Friuli, is under the direction
of the Contessa di Brazza. Among charitable institutions which
interest themselves in the lace industry are the Industrial School
of SS. Ecce Homo at Naples, and San Ramiri at Pisa, which was
originally founded by the Grand Dukes of Tuscany in the middle of
the eighteenth century to teach weaving. This industry, and that of
straw-plaiting, met with no success, and the school gradually
developed into an industrial school in the modern sense. There are
many schools on the same system in Florence, and one (San Pelegrino)
at Bologna. At Sassari, in Sardinia, the deaf and dumb children in
the great institution of the "Figlie di Maria" are taught to make
net lace. Torchon and Brussels pillow lace is worked under the
direction of the Sisters of Providence in the women's prison at
Perugia.
[250] Laborde, _Glossaire_. Paris, 1853.
[251] Statute 2 Hen. VI., c. x., 1423.
[252] Taglienti (1530) among his _punti_ gives _Ciprioto_ (an embroidery
stitch).
[253] _Description de Raguse_ (Bib. Nat. MSS., F.Fr. 10,772).
[254] Points de Raguse--first mentioned in an Edict of January, 1654, by
which the king raises for his own profit one quarter of the value of
the "passems, dentelles, points coupez de Flandres, pointinars,
points de Venise, de Raguse, de Gênes," etc. (_Recueil des Lois
Françaises_). Again, the Ordinance of August, 1665, establishes the
points de France, "en la manière des points qui se font à Venise,
Gênes, Raguse, et autres pays étrangers," recited in the _Arrêt_ of
Oct. 12th, 1666.--De Lamare, _Traité de la Police_.
[255] See VENICE.
[256] In 1661.
[257] See head of chapter.
[258] In 1667.
[259] See APPENDIX.
[260] _A Descriptive Catalogue of the Collections of Lace in the Victoria
and Albert Museum_, by the late Mrs. Bury Palliser. Third edition,
revised and enlarged by A. S. Cole.
[261] _Edinburgh Advertiser_, 1764.
[262] There is no corroboration of Mrs. Palliser's statement above that
lace was ever made in Malta; if so, it would have been of the
Genoese geometrical kind, of which Lady Hamilton Chichester adapted
the designs and evolved what is now known as Maltese lace by the aid
of workers imported from Genoa. The Maltese cross has been
introduced into the designs as a distinguishing mark.
[263] "A lace of similar character (Maltese) has also been made
successfully in the missionary schools at Madras" (Mrs. Palliser).
[264] Lefébure, _Embroidery and Lace_.
[265] In the Philippine Islands the natives work Manilla grass into a sort
of drawn thread-work or tatting.
[266] 1756. _Point d'Espagne hats._--Connoisseur.
[267] Beckmann, in his _History of Inventions_, says that "It was a
fashion to give the name of Spanish to all kinds of novelties, such
as Spanish flies, Spanish wax, Spanish green, Spanish grass, Spanish
seed, and others."
[268] A. S. Cole. "Cantor Lectures on the Art of Lace-Making."
[269] _Livre Nouveau de Patrons_ and _Fleurs des Patrons_ give various
stitches to be executed "en fil d'or, d'argent, de soie, et
d'autres." Both printed at Lyons. The first has no date; the
second, 1549. _Le Pompe_, Venezia, 1559, has "diversi sorti di
mostre per poter far, d'oro, di sete, di filo," etc.
[270] "Not many years since, a family at Cadiz, of Jewish extraction,
still enjoyed the monopoly of manufacturing gold and silver
lace."--_Letter from Spain_, 1863. _Merletto Polichrome_, or
parti-coloured lace, was also invented and perfected by the Jews,
and was made in silk of various colours, representing fruit and
flowers. This industry has been revived in Venice, and carried to
great perfection.
[271] Senor J. F. Riano. _The Industrial Arts in Spain._--"Lace."
[272] "Spain has 8,932 convents, containing 94,000 nuns and
monks."--Townsend, J., _Journey Through Spain in the Years 1786 and
1787_.
[273] The aloe thread is now used in Florence for sewing the straw-plait.
[274] Barcelona, 1892, page 225, quoted by Signor J. F. Riano. Date of
book 1592.
[275] A. S. Cole, _Ancient Needle-point and Pillow-Lace_.
[276] This ordinance even extended to foreign courts. We read in the
Mercure _Galant_, 1679, of the Spanish ambassadress, "Elle etoit
vestue de drap noir avec de la dentelle de soye; elle n'avait ni
dentelle ni linge autour de sa gorge."
[277] _Mercure François._
[278] They have also provided--
"14 ruffs & 14 pairs of
cuffs laced, at 20s. £14
For lacing 8 hats for the
footmen with silver
parchment lace, at 3s. £1 4s."
_Extraordinary Expenses of his Highness to Spain_, 1623. P. R. O.
[279] Doctor Monçada, in 1660, and Osorio, in 1686, reckoned more than
three millions of Spaniards who, though well dressed, wore no
shirts.--_Townsend's Spain._
[280] Speaking of the apartment of Madame d'Aranda, Beckford writes: "Her
bed was of the richest blue velvet, trimmed with point lace."
[281] Our English translation of _Don Quixote_ has led some authors into
adducing a passage as an evidence that the art of making bone lace
was already known in Cervantes' day. "Sanchica," writes Theresa
Pança to her husband, the newly-appointed Governor of Baratava,
"makes bone lace, and gets eight maravedis a day, which she drops
into a tin box to help towards household stuff. But now that she is
a governor's daughter, you will give her a fortune, and she will not
have to work for it." In referring to the original Spanish we find
the words rendered bone lace are "puntas de randas," signifying
works of lacis or réseuil--"ouvrage de lacis ou réseuil."--Oudin.
_Trésor des Deux Langues Fr. et Esp._ (1660).
[282] As early as the Great Wardrobe Account of Queen Elizabeth, 1587, P.
R. O., we have a charge for bobbin lace of Spanish silk, "cum uñ
tag," for the mantle, 10s. 8d.
In a letter from Prestwick Eaton to Geo. Willingham, 1631, the
writer sends 1000 reals (£25), and in return desires him to send,
together with a mastiff dog, some black satin lace for a Spanish
suit.--_State Papers, Domestic_, Car. I., P. R. O.
[283] 1697. Marriage of Mademoiselle and the King of Spain. The Queen,
says the _Mercure_, wore "une mante de point d'Espagne d'or, neuf
aunes de long." 1698. Fête at Versailles on the marriage of the Duc
de Bourgogne. "La Duchesse de Bourgogne pourtoit un petit tablier de
point d'Espagne de mille pistoles."--_Galérie de l'ancienne Cour; ou
Mém. des Règnes de Louis XIV. et Louis XV._, 1788.
1722. Ball at the Tuileries. "Tous les seigneurs etaient en habits
de drap d'or ou d'argent garnis de points d'Espagne, avec des noeuds
d'épaule, et tout l'ajustement à proportion. Les moindres etaient de
velours, avec des points d'Espagne d'or et d'argent."--_Journal de
Barbier_, 1718-62.
1722. "J'ai vu en même temps le carosse que le roi fait faire pour
entrer dans Reims, il sera aussi d'une grande magnificence. Le
dedans est tout garni d'un velours à ramage de points d'Espagne
d'or."--_Ibid._
1731. Speaking of her wedding-dress, Wilhelmina of Bayreuth, the
witty sister of Frederick the Great, writes: "Ma robe étoit d'une
étoffe d'or fort riche, avec un point d'Espagne d'or, et ma queue
étoit de douze aunes de long."--_Mémoires._
1751. Fête at Versailles on the birth of the Duc de Bourgogne. The
coats of the "gens de cour, en étoffes d'or de grand prix ou en
velours de tout couleurs, brodés d'or, ou garnis de point d'Espagne
d'or."--_Journal de Barbier._
[284] _Fenix de Cataluña, compendio desus Antiguas Grandezas y Medio para
Renovarlas_, Barcelona, 1683, p. 75.
[285] In the reign of William and Mary, we find, in a lace-man's bill of
the Queen, a charge for forty-seven yards of rich, broad, scalloped,
embossed point de Spain; and her shoes are trimmed with gold and
silver lace.--B. M., Add. MSS.; No. 5751.
At the entry of Lord Stair into Paris, 1719, his servants' hats are
described as laced with Spanish point, their sleeves laced with
picked silver lace, and dented at the edge with lace.--_Edinburgh
Courant._
In 1740, the Countess of Pomfret, speaking of the Princess Mary's
wedding clothes, writes: "That for the wedding night is silver
tissue, faced at the bottom before with pink-coloured satin, trimmed
with silver point d'Espagne."--_Letters of the Countess of Hartford
to the Countess of Pomfret_, 1740.
[286] Marquis de la Gombardière, 1634, _Nouveau Réglement Général des
Finances_, etc.
[287] "Eighty children and grandchildren attended his funeral in defiance
of the Edict of 19th Sept., 1664, and were heavily fined."--_La
France Protestante_, par M. M. Haag. Paris, 1846-59.
[288] Garderobe de S. A. S. Mgr. le Duc de Penthièvre. Arch. Nat. K. K.
390-1.
[289] Lord Verulam on the treaty of commerce with the Emperor Maximilian.
[290] _Gentleman's Magazine_, 1745.
[291] Peyron, 1789.
[292] Madrid, 1775.
[293] _Itinéraire de l'Espagne_, Comte Alph. de Laborde, t. v.
[294] Peuchet (_Dictionnaire Universel de la Géographie Commerçante_, An.
vii. = 1799), speaking of Barcelona, says their laces are "façon de
France," but inferior in beauty and quality. The fabrication is
considerable, employing 2,000 women in the towns and villages east
of Barcelona. They are sold in Castile, Andalusia, and principally
in the Indies.
[295] Madrid, 1788. Vol. ii, p. 149.
[296] _Ibid._ Vol. xvii., p. 294.
[297] "The manufacture of silk lace or blonde in Almagro occupies from
12,000 to 13,000 people" (Mrs. Palliser, 1869). Modern torchon laces
are still made at Almagro to a very large extent (1901).
[298] Madrid, 1788.
[299] Madrid, 1797.
[300] Senor Juan F. Riano, _The Industrial Arts in Spain_, "Lace" (London,
1879).
[301] _Theory of Commerce_, from the Spanish of Don. Ger. de Ustariz
(Lond., 1751).
[302] When the holidays of the Roman Catholic church are deducted, the
work-days of the people amount only to 260 in the course of the
year--fifty less than in a Protestant country.
[303] Ford, _Handbook of Spain_.
[304] 1869.
[305] "Now there are only two kinds of lace made in Spain; 'encaje de
blonda,' mantillas, scarves, lace-ties, etc., in white and black;
these are manufactured in Barcelona, on long pillows stuffed with
long straw quite hard, covered with yellow or light blue linen. The
lace is worked on a cardboard pattern, and with 'fuseaux' like the
French torchon lace, the only difference being that the pillow is
long and narrow and without the revolving cylinder in the centre, so
that when making a long piece, or lace by the yard, the pins have to
be taken out when you get to the bottom of the pillow, and the work
removed to the top and continued. The mantillas, etc., are worked by
pieces; that is to say, the border, flowers, and large designs, and
are afterwards joined by the veil stitch.
"The second is 'encaje de Almagro'--little children of six and seven
years old are taught to make it."--_Letter from Spain_, 1901.
[306] "On met de la dentelle brodée de couleur de points d'Espagne aux
jupes"--_Mercure Galant._
[307] _Recherches sur le Commerce, la Fabrication et l'Usage des Etoffes
de Soie, etc., pendant le Moyen Age._ Paris, 1839.
[308] Taglienti, Venice, 1530.
[309] Paris, 1546.
[310] Pelegrin de Florence, Paris, 1530.
[311] _Magazin de Londres_, 1749.
[312] Mademoiselle Dumont, foundress of the point de France fabric, in the
Rue St. Denis, quitted Paris after some years and retired to
Portugal: whether she there introduced her art is more than the
author can affirm.
[313] It was probably a variety of point de Venise. A few years ago a
specimen of point plat was exhibited in London with a Portuguese
inscription and designs of figures in costumes of _circ._ 1600.
See Plate IX.
[314] The bobbins from Peniche, one of the few places in Portugal where
pillow-lace is still made, are remarkably pretty. They are of ivory,
agreeably mellowed by time and constant handling, and their slender
tapering shafts and bulbous ends are decorated simply but tastefully
with soft-tinted staining. In size they are small, measuring from
three and a quarter to three and a half inches long, and these
proportions are extremely good. Another variety of Peniche bobbin is
made of dark brown, boldly-grained wood. The lace-makers work on a
long cylindrical cushion--the _almofada_--fastened to a high,
basket-work stand, light enough to be easily moved from place to
place.--R. E. Head, "Some Notes on Lace-Bobbins," _The Reliquary_,
July, 1900.
[315] _The Queen_, August, 1872.
"The places in Portugal where the lace industry is chiefly exercised
are Peniche, Vianna do Castello, Setubal, a village in Algarve
called Faro, and at the present time Lisbon, where, under the help
and patronage of H. M. the Queen, a lace dépot has been instituted,
in which I have worked for ten years, seeking to raise the
Portuguese lace industry to an art. The designs being entirely my
own original ones, I am trying to give them a character in unison
with the general idea of the architecture throughout the country. I
obtained gold medals for my work at the Exhibitions of 1894 at
Antwerp and 1900 at Paris, besides others at Lisbon."--Letter from
Dona Maria Bordallo Pinheiro, head of the Lace Industry Department
at Lisbon, 1901.
[316] "There are now seven families employed in the fabrication of Maltese
lace, which is made almost entirely by men; the women occupy
themselves in the open-work embroidery of muslin" (1869).
[317] Those in the collegiate church of St. Peter's, at Louvain, and in
the church of St. Gomar, at Lierre (Antwerp Prov.).--Aubry.
[318] Baron Reiffenberg, in _Mémoires de l'Académie de Bruxelles_. 1820.
[319] Engraved by Collaert. Bib. Nat. Grav.
[320] _Louvain dans le passé et dans le présent, formation de la ville,
événements memorables, territoire, topographie, institutions,
monuments, oeuvres d'art_, page 330, by Edward van Even, published
1895.
[321] M. de Barante.
[322] It goes on: "For the maiden, seated at her work, plies her fingers
rapidly, and flashes the smooth balls and thousand threads into the
circle. Often she fastens with her hand the innumerable needles, to
bring out the various figures of the pattern; often, again, she
unfastens them; and in this her amusement makes as much profit as
the man earns by the sweat of his brow; and no maiden ever complains
at even of the length of the day. The issue is a fine web, open to
the air with many an aperture, which feeds the pride of the whole
globe; which encircles with its fine border cloaks and tuckers, and
shows grandly round the throats and hands of kings; and, what is
more surprising, this web is of the lightness of a feather, which in
its price is too heavy for our purses. Go, ye men, inflamed with the
desire of the Golden Fleece, endure so many dangers by land, so many
at sea, whilst the woman, remaining in her Brabantine home, prepares
Phrygian fleeces by peaceful assiduity."--_Jacobi Eyckii
Antwerpiensis Urbium Belgicarum Centuria._ Antw. 1651. 1 vol., 4to.
Bib. Royale, Brussels.
[323] Alençon excepted.
[324] It is said to destroy the eyesight. "I was told by a gentleman well
acquainted with Flanders," says McPherson, "that they were
generally almost blind before thirty years of age."--_History of
Commerce_, 1785.
[325] Together with the cap is preserved a parchment with this
inscription: "Gorro que perteneccio à Carlos Quinto, emperad. Guarda
lo, hijo mio, es memoria de Juhan de Garnica." ("Cap which belonged
to the Emperor Charles V. Keep it, my son, in remembrance of John de
Garnica"). J. de Garnica was treasurer to Philip II.
Séguin, however, is of opinion that this cap belonged to one of
Charles V.'s successors:--