The Secret of the Middle Ages in Gold Thread and Silk

Poster for the exhibition 'Het geheim van de Middeleeuwen', Utrecht, 2015 Poster for the exhibition 'Het geheim van de Middeleeuwen', Utrecht, 2015

Het Geheim van de Middeleeuwen in Gouddraad en Zijde ('The Secret of the Middle Ages in Gold Thread and Silk') was an exhibition at the Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht (the Netherlands), about the use of embroidery on Catholic liturgical garments from the medieval period. The exhibition was held from 10 April to 16 August 2015.

The exhibition displayed a range of medieval ecclesiastical garments that were normally embroidered, including chasubles, copes, dalmatics, mitres and stoles, as well as a single embroidered shoe worn by a bishop. There were also some brief details about where the cloth, etc, used for making the garments came from. There was also a section on how older garments were cut up to create and decorate new examples.

There was a small section about the various gold work techniques used, with some commissioned examples on display so that the technical details could be seen on the front and back of the ground cloth. These samples were made by the German goldwork embroideress, Ulrike Müllers, who lives in the Netherlands.

Also on display with the garments were various Dutch and German paintings depicting religious scenes, including two paintings illustrating misses given by Pope Gregorius I (c. 540-604; pope: 590-604).

In the gallery next to the main exhibition, there was a slightly smaller exhibition that focused on the work of the Atelier Stadelmaier, from Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Between 1930 and 2010 the atelier was the world's largest producer of liturgical clothing in the world. The exhibition concentrated on Atelier Stadelmaier and liturgical embroidery since the re-organisation of the Catholic Church (Vatican Two) between 1962-1965.

Source: LEEFLANG, Micha and Kees van SCHOOTEN (2015). Middeleeuwse Borduurkunst uit de Nederlanden (exhibition catalogue), Zwolle: WBooks and the Museum Catharijneconvent.

Digital source of illustration (retrieved 8 June 2016).

GVE

Last modified on Monday, 03 October 2016 18:31