Design for Embroidery with Two Large Garlands and a Variety of Labelled Stylized Flowers
Not on view
Drawing with a variety of design motifs for embroidery typical from the 19th century, which saw a revival of styles, including the Calssicism of Greece and Rome, Renaissance styles, Rococo and Neoclassicism. These revivals were linked to the "collector mania" that took place especially after 1850, and coincided with the Romantic movement in literature that saw in the past an escape from modernity. Some of the most common design motifs that emerged from this renewed interest in antiquarianism were naturalistic and floral motifs, including thin garlands and bundles, vases, classical musical instruments, and ribbons.
This drawing presents two large garlands of flowers and leaves and a variety of small bundles of stylized flowers and leaves, some of them labelled with the name of the species they are intended to represent.
The two garlands occupy the upper part of the design, positioned towards the left side. One of them is made up of a thin branch executed with ink with pairs of leaves colored with two shades of green that separate stylized sunflowers with yellow and orange petals and purple and orange pistils with small dots. The other, below the first, is made up of elongated undulating leaves rendered with two shades of green and a variety of stylized exotic flowers and flower buds: in the center is a rosette with petals executed with shades of pink and purple, flanked by branches with flower buds of the same species and some large stylized flowers rendered with green; to its sides are two large flower buds with petals colored with light shades of purple and with thorns also in purple, followed by large stylized exotic lilies with petals executed with shades of orange and yellow and decorated with small dots, and ending with the smallest are colored with shades of blue towards the ends of the garlands.
In the space left on the sheet to the right side of the garlands are a horizontal branch with stylized leaves rendered with green and thee fruit motifs colored with green and pink, under which stand three flowers on its branches: one with yellow petals with zig-zagging edges on an undulating stem with scrolling leaves and two flower buds, rendered with green, one made up of a vertical shuttle shape colored with shades of green, brown and orange, over a thick stem flanked by elongated leaves, colored with green, imitating sugar cane and labelled "zucchero", and one with carmine petals and brown pistils on a stem with large stylized leaves colored with green, labelled "anunona" (?). Under it is an undulating stem with green leaves from which emerge two blossoming flowers with petals with zig-zagging edges: one executed with yellow and green, and the other executed with blue and red.
Lined up with the bottom side of the sheet are more flower motifsm starting with two small bundles with green stems and leaves and flowers with pink petals, possibly resembling some type of carnations or peonies. To their side, a larger stylized flower with petals colored with shades of grayish-purple and a flower bud of the same type on a long stem with stylized green leaves. Underneath it is a horozontal stem with stylized leaves, all colored with shades of green, labelled "lunaria". To their right are a couple of bundles with green leaves and flowers with blue petals, the bottom one with particularly large leaves and small flowers, and labelled "primaveris". Next to it is a long green stem with large elongated leaves and several small hanging flowers that resemble lilies of the valley, colored with gray, labelled "giglio del'convallio", followed by a stylized wheat ear colored with brown and green, labelled "formento". A thin branch with small green leaves and tiny rosettes with white petals and yellow pistils, labelled "bardana" and a small pear-shaped vase colored with green with undulating elongated thin leaves and three flowers with blue petals and yellow pistils, labelled "Croco", are to the left of a long stem with pairs of leaves, colored with green, and with several stylized white lilies; to its right are a green fruit imitating a type of melon or watermelon, labelled "anguria", and a stylized bundle with green flower buds imitating a bunch of tuberose buds, labelled "nardo".
