18th century
'Brodeur' is the title of a page taken from Denis Diderot (1713-1784) and Jean le Rond d'Alembert's Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (1751-1772). The engraver of this particular panel is Robert Bénard (1734-1777). It is one of a series of two copper plate engravings dedicated to the craft of embroidery.
'Brodeur' is the title of a page taken from Denis Diderot (1713-1784) and Jean le Rond d'Alembert's Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (1751-1772). The engraver of this particular panel is Robert Bénard (1734-1777). This panel is one of a series of two copperplate engravings dedicated to the craft of embroidery.
'The Embroidery Workshop' is an oil painting by Pietro Longhi (1701/2-1785; aka Pietro Falca), now in the Museo Correr in Venice. It shows a group of women being engaged in various activities related to embroidery.
The Fair Lady Working Her Tambour is the title of a mezzo print dating to about 1764. It shows a woman at her tambour embroidery and behind her tambour frame, holding a tambour hook in her right hand.
The oil on canvas 'A Lacemaker, with a Boy Blowing Bubbles' (De Kantwerkster / Kantklossende Vrouw en Bellenblazende Jongen) was painted in 1742 by the Dutch eighteenth century master, Louis de Moni (1698-1771). It is now part of the Mauritshuis collection in The Hague, and on long-term loan to the Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, the town where De Moni eventually settled and spent the rest of his life.
'The Ladies Waldegrave' was painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) in 1780. Now in the Scottish National Gallery, it shows the three daughters of the 2nd Earl Waldegrave (1715-1763) together working their embroidery. The painting, without the frame, measures 143 x 168.30 cm.
A lady carrying a decorated (embroidered?) balantine, which is a women's handbag suspended from a long cord from the belt and swinging back and forth at knee-height, is illustrated in the 17th August 1798 issue of the Journal des Dames et des Modes (Paris, 1797-1839).
Lady Jane Allgood (1721-1778) of Nunwick Hall, Northumberland, England, is portrayed with a large embroidery of tulips and anenomes, reportedly intended for some chairs and screens at the estate. The chairs and screens with the embroideries are apparently still at Nunwick Hall.
'Madame de Pompadour at her Tambour Frame' is an oil on canvas painting by François-Hubert Drouais (1727-1775), now housed in the National Gallery, London. Drouais was the main portrait painter at the court of Louis XV. He made this painting of Madame de Pompadour in 1763/4 and completed it after her death in the spring of 1764.
'Madame de Pompadour Embroidering' is a painting by the French artist Carle or Charles-André van Loo (1705-1765). It shows Madame de Pompadour behind an Ottoman-Turkish embroidery frame. The painting dates to AD 1750-1755. Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson (1721-1764), better known as Madame de Pompadour, was the official mistress of King Louis XV of France (r: 1715-1774).
A water colour and pastel by the Swiss-French artist, Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702-1789) and dated 1762, shows Maria Amalia (1746-1804), archduchess of Austria and the future Duchess of Bourbon-Parma, engaged in embroidery.
A water colour and pastel by the Swiss-French artist, Jean-Étienne Liotard (1702-1789) and dated AD 1762, shows the seven-year old Marie Antoinette of Austria (1755-1793) engaged in netting. She is holding a netting shuttle in her right hand.
The British Museum in London houses a hand-coloured satirical etching, called 'An Old Maid on a Journey', which was made by the cartoonist, James Gillray, and which was based on the work of the amateur draughtsman, Brownlow North (1778-1829), son of Brownlow North, the Bishop of Winchester. The print measures 25.5 x 38.3 cm and was published by Hannah Humphrey (c. 1745-1818; No. 27, St James's Street, London).
This oil on canvas painting from 1776 by the Dutch artist, Hermanus Numan (1744-1820), shows Susanna van Collen-Mogge and her daughter, Johanna Ferdinanda (1774-1833). The painting measures 80 × 64 cm. The woman is shown making bobbin lace using a flat pillow resting on a support of some kind. There is a sewing box on the table.
The oil on canvas 'Women Working on Pillow Lace' (also known as 'The Sewing School') was painted by the Italian artist, Giacomo Ceruti (1698-1767). It is one of many paintings and drawings with the same theme, made in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. A sewing school was a popular theme, allegedly developed by the Danish artist, Bernhard Keil (1624-1687), who worked and travelled widely in northern Italy.