OPUS ANGLICANUM
A Historical Study
Resources:
Some of the books on the list are not available anymore or are simply to expensive even as used books.
My sources for study, both for the historical background as well as for the techniques used are the following:
- English Medieval Embroidery - Opus Anglicanum
- Embroidery in Religion and Ceremon ial - Beryl Dean (secondhand book)
- Opus Anglicanum : A Practical Guide, Tanya Bentham (as download)
- Youtube demos: Sarah Homfray, Underside couching
- Domestika: Introduction to Gold Embroidery, Elena Ciarrocchi
Gold Embroidery for beginners, Talisa May
Opus Anglicanum ( English work) is the name used for the embroidery in Great Britain. It reached its peak in the second half of the 13th century to the 14th century.
The high quality of the work was greatly appreciated in Britain as well as abroad. In fact there was a lively international market in English embroideries especially to the papal court at Rome, to Avignon and the rest of Europe.
" Rich textiles were among the most important signifiers of wealth and status and members of society's elite were marked out through the quality of their clothing and accessories".
"Costly pieces were embroidered to an individual's requirements and acted as status symbols and international gifts of great value."
Consequently, medieval patrons were the higher clergy throughout Europe but also kings, noble men and wealthy members of the society who could afford such expensive embroideries.. English embroideries were also offered as diplomatic gifts or used as donations to cathedrals or mendicant churches. But even for mendicant orders, wearing richly embroidered vestments was not sinful as this "was attributable to the excellence of the sacred ministry".
A secondhand trade developed over time and by the second half of the 14th century, English Embroideries were now inherited rather than commissioned.
Main features of Opus Anglicanum
English embroideries survives mainly on ecclesiastical vestments, but was also used for secular items like banners, wall hangings, cushions...)
It "flourished under the patronage both of the court of wealthy citizens and owed its existence to a stream of imported materials".
The pieces in Opus Anglicanum consist of a combination of embroidered figural scenes, gold backgrounds, pearls, rich decoration. O.A. is famous for the beauty of its workmanship, its inventiveness and expressiveness of the designs.
The imagery used on embroidered vestments reflects both their function within the services of the Church as well as the particular interests of the patrons for whom they were made, the devotion to particular saints, heraldic shields or badges of their families. Examples will follow later on.
The Embroidery Trade
Merchants (Mercers) were the most powerful figures specialized in selling cloth of all sorts as well as goods made from them. Very often the wifes had the role of silkworkers.
The merchants had the money to provide for the costly raw maoterials as well as the financial backing for the embroiderers.
Foreign merchants, especially Italians, seem to have been involved in the export of luxury embroideries.
Broderers in tghe 13th and early 14th century, were mostly women, but the outward-facing portion of the trade was conducted by men. Monks and nuns would also work as embroiderers. Textile workers of London tended to congregate in small areas of the City and by 1431 the Guild of Broderers presented its rules to the Mayor and Alterman of London in 1431.
Patrons: The higher clergy was one on the major patrons for Opus Anglicanum works and could be found throughout Europe. The clergy was powerful and obviously wealthy, like kings. "Costly pieces were embroidered to an individual's requirements and acted as status symbols and international gifts of great value".
English Embroidery pieces were offered as diplomatic gifts. But even mendicant orders, wearing richly embroidered vestmentswas not sinful as this "was attributable to the excellence of the sacred ministry".
By the second half of the XIV century, English Embroideries were inherited rather than commissioned.
Raw materials and techniques
Ground fabrics used were linen, silk and wool, the upper layer consisting of fine linen or silk, the backing of coarser linen.
On linen the thread entirely concealed the ground whereas on silk the embroidery was more widely spaced showing off the expensive fabric.
Silk was imported into England both in its raw state and as finished threads.
Silk threads use were floss silk, silk twist.
Gold thread: "filé" or wrapped thread, Damask gold.
Cheaper metal threads were also available (copper gold and counterfeit gold)
Additional ornaments: pearls, small enamels, garnets in gold settings and gemstones. These greatly increased the prestige of the work
Techniques
Metal threads were almost never sewn through fabric, it was normally couched, either in brick stitch where stitches appear on the face of the embroidery or with a technique called underside couching.
Here the couching thread travels on the reverse of the fabric and is brought to the front only to secure the embroidery threads, pulling them through to the reverse. This technique renders the surface more flexible and makes it less susceptible to abrasion.
Split stitch was used in the embroideries executed with silk. Working in different directions allowed to play with light.
Appliqué work was produced throughout the later Middle Ages, for instance in heraldic designs.
Or nué, shaded gold: it is an imported method of surface couching. With this technique the gold thread is laid over the entire ground and decoratively couched in coloured silk to create a design. It is first documented in the 14th century and might originate from France.
An early example of English or nué can be seen in the orphrey of the Butler-Bodwon chasuble.
Interest in three-dimensional effects arose in the second half of the the 14th century
Satin stitch eventually replaced split stitch as the predominant stitch for figurative embroidery.
Changes from the mid-fourteenth century: embroidered ornament was increasingly concentrated in the orphreys the use of applied motif was increasing.
In the 15th century a combination of directly embtroidered and applied elements was used.
The Artistic Context of Opus Anglicanum
The imagery used in Opus Anglicanum was closely related to images produced in other media like paintings, stained glass or manuscripts.
Logically "the figure compositions clearly illustrated incidents from the Bible: the Tree of Jesse, figures of saints, their martyrdoms, angels, the life of the Virgin Mary, the Crucifixion... "for the instruction of the unlettered laity".
"The earliest type of design was based upon the tree of Jesse and single figures of saints were enclosed in the spiralling vine. The copes usually had an orphrey and sometimes a small triangular hood."
Towards the end of the thirteenth century for about forty years, the type of design changed, the field of the cope being divided into
- quatre foils (Syon cope)
- circles (Ascoli-Piceno)
- squares (Steeple Aston.
This was made in the 14th century and later cut into fragments and rearranged as an altar frontal and dossal
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In these shapes were placed saints and six-winged angels....
Until about 1350 the background was formed into foliated architectural arcading framing figure subjects (Butler-Bowdon cope).
The drawing of animals and birds is both fantastic and meticulous , frequently based upon the Bestiaries of the time (Steeple Aston cope)
Horse trapper, later made into a chasuble : it shows the three Great Leopards or Lions of England.
The Fishmongers' Pall
Details showing plants, the motifs were often taken from Herbal model books
-----------------------------------------General thoughts
I certainly could have gone on and on with my text here. I spent a lot of time in the research of the subject and I did enjoy it. I was so much impressed with the work of Opus Anglicanum, mainly thinking of the craftmanship of the people who did these embroideries all day long, with bent heads and in rooms that were not as lit as ours are today, not for fun as we do with our work. For them it was a way to earn their lives .
I also imagine the clergy wearing these golden robes in large churches and cathedrals only lit by candles. It must have looked impressive from afar for all the "simple" people, making the priests look like half-gods. These must have felt superior displaying all their wealth and power.
The symbolic meaning of the copes for instance suddenly changes, it is not meant to protect but display, it stands for pride and a desire for admiration.
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