Mary Queen of Scots is one of the world’s best known and instantly recognisable icons, with her austere clothing and heart shaped headdress. Crowned Queen of Scotland when she was less than a year old, her tumultuous life with filled with uncertainty, but the way she dressed, from her early years in France, to her…
All posts by Rosie Lesso
NINE IRON linen’s steely, dramatic grey with just a hint of crimson became great swathes of deep shadow in the hands of the painter Thomas Cole, sweeping across America’s epic mountain ranges and forming wild, turbulent skies laden with thunderstorms. His momentous landscapes are a celebration of America’s sublime wilderness during the mid-19th century, before…
“Early in history, it was important to impress your subjects with your wealth and your bling.” Lucy Worsley, Historian Grand, eccentric and flamboyant, Monarchs have embraced the wondrous power of fabric and clothing since medieval times. From dresses weighed down with jewels to suits covered in gold lace, theatricality and drama has defined the clothing…
Dark, brooding and dramatic, the intense blue of COBALT linen was ideal for Renaissance painter Jacopo Vignali’s heightened, operatic scenes. A leading painter in the Florentine seicento, Vignali’s Baroque paintings were defined by flowing swathes of jewel-toned fabric in midnight blues and crimson reds; set amidst theatrical, directional light, these richly toned colours amplify the…
“Quilts stimulate memories of warmth, security and home, yet their layers can also conceal hidden histories and untold stories.” Sue Prichard, Curator of Contemporary Textiles, the V&A, London Quilts hold a special place in today’s culture, adorning the walls of museums and galleries as totemic mementos of the past. From abstract patterns to personal or…
The creamy tone of ANTIQUE WHITE Linen glistened across the great Realist painter Gustave Courbet’s canvases, investing them with the sparkling vibrancy of the French coast. Courbet’s trademark palette was warm beige, sandy or golden tones, applied with a knife to the canvas in thick slabs as rich and heady as buttercream. These streaks came…
“The history of America can be seen in the history of quilts.” The National Monument of America When pioneers set off for a new life in the United States, many carried with them the great tradition of quilting. Each family came to the New World armed with comforting quilts, some purely practical, others patched together…
Dusk was James Abbot McNeill Whistler’s favourite time of day, when cool temperatures and dwindling light turned colours into an ambiguous, enigmatic haze. Nuanced shades of blue and green like that of TURQUOISE Linen allowed him to convey this bracing evening light as it stretched across misty skies and open expanses of freezing water, merging…
“Every quiltmaker in the 1970s (was) an innovator… People made their own rules, broke them and came up with their own solutions to the problems they encountered while making quilts.” Bill Volckening, quilt historian and collector The 1970s were a landmark period in the history of American quilting. A whirlwind of change led people to…
Dense networks of green unfurl across Henri Rousseau’s tropical paradise, colouring grasses, plants and leaves with the juicy vibrancy of life. But with the richly enigmatic jewel tone of EMERALD Linen he creates mysterious pockets of darkness, where magic and danger lurk in the shadows. Rousseau never left France, so his mystical jungle scenes are…
Made with dedication, patience and love, traditional quilts have been passed on through families for thousands of years. Many still survive today, proving how durable the hand-crafted technique continues to be. This deep-rooted longevity might explain why quilting has remained such a popular and enduring habit, one that can still invoke the enveloping comfort and…
The misty turquoise of BLUE HEAVEN Linen defined the art of 19th century French Symbolist Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, forming distant mountains, hazy shadows or endlessly entrancing blue water. When France was facing political turmoil after the Franco-Prussian War, Puvis’ mystical, icy blue scenes suggested a wondrous, escapist world beyond our own to disappear into….
“Quilting … is an art that speaks more clearly than ever to our make and mend era.” Laura Cummings Quilts have been in our civilization for centuries, quietly weaving themselves into the backbone of our human history. Both beautiful and practical, quilting techniques have experienced an upsurge of interest in recent decades, along with a…
The dazzling brilliance of SULPHUR Linen filled American artist Anne Truitt’s work with shafts of golden sunlight, encapsulating the glowing warmth of her native Washington. Truitt sought ways of infusing artworks with the colours of her idyllic childhood in Maryland, from dazzling white picket fences to blazing yellow sunlight and glistening stretches of juicy grass….
Intricate and ornate vines unfurl across Scrolls IVORY NATURAL Linen’s jacquard damask like fervent plant forms sprouting new life. This pattern is part of a long tradition of ‘scroll’ design, defined by flowing plants that form incomplete spirals in symmetrical repeat patterns, invoking the sensation of constant flow. From Greek pottery to Roman architecture and…
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