Illustration: W Curtis Brangwyn. Embroidered Church banner, 1867.
The craft of embroidery has always been an important element within the Church, and the Church itself has been for long a keen investor in the craft system in general and textiles in particular. Embroidered Church vestments and furnishings go back centuries, even to the early days of the Church with detailed and luxurious Byzantine and Coptic textiles often produced exclusively for Church ceremonies.
The nineteenth century saw a vast expansion of Church embroideries not only in the burgeoning market of Protestant Church building, particularly in Britain where many Churches were being constructed in the new urban centres across the island, but also in the Catholic Church which was experiencing a church building campaign in Britain of its own, due to the Churches new legitimised status in 1829.
Illustration: W Curtis Brangwyn. Embroidered Church stole, 1867.
The Arts & Crafts movement which saw as part of its remit the renewal and reinvigoration of traditional crafts, infused embroidery with a new and expanded repertoire that included both domestic and ecclesiastical design and pattern work. Ecclesiastical decoration in particular became highly popular with embroiderers both professional and amateur alike. Indeed even today there are many Church embroideries both vestments and furnishings that are either still in use today or stored, many from the nineteenth and early twentieth century.
However, it was not only the Arts & crafts movement that had the monopoly on Church embroideries. Many companies either had a long-standing traditional ecclesiastical market, or had moved into that market recently. All of the illustrations shown in this article are examples shown at the 1867 Universal Exhibition in Paris. Two were produced by W Curtis Brangwyn of Bruges, an architect and designer and father of the future British artist and designer Frank Brangwyn, the other design was produced by Giani of Vienna. All were hand-produced embroidery and all are fine examples of the craft of embroidery and are probably some of the best and finest pieces available at this period. That they were produced for show and the self-promotion of the companies involved does not take away the initial creativity and workmanship that produced them in the first place.
Illustration: Giani. Embroidered Altar cloth, 1867.
Church embroideries are often neglected or thought of as poor examples of the creative expression of the contemporary world that produced them. However, both Church vestments and furnishings came in all decorative forms and many were both highly original and creative. A number of high profile artists and designers of the period were either commissioned or supplied design work for Church textiles. The role of the Church as investor, supporter and sponsor not only throughout its history, but in more recent times should never be underestimated or undervalued. The Church was responsible in its own way for fostering and encouraging the promotion of the craft system in both Britain and the wider Europe. The system of commissioning and sponsoring art and craft endeavours by the Church that continued well into the twentieth century, and to some extent, although on a much reduced scale, continues today, is a factor that should be recognised and registered.
Without the system of vestments and furnishings used by the Church in ceremony and display, craft embroidery in the nineteenth century would have been limited to domestic decoration which although serving a purpose and producing a substantial amount of decorative embroidery work, would have limited the scope that embroidery was able to achieve during this time period.
Further reading links:
Needlecraft Practical Journal #85 c.1910 - Ecclesiastical Embroidery
Embroidery in the Church
Ideas for Church Embroidery.
English Church Embroidery 1833-1953
Byzantine Tradition in Church Embroidery (Chapters in Art S)
Church Embroidery, Ancient and Modern
The dictionary of needlework, an encyclopædia of artistic, plain, and fancy needlework, Church embroidery, lace, and ornamental needlework
Designs for Church Embroideries
Embroidery for the Church (A Studio handbook)
Butterick Art & Ecclesiastical Embroidery c.1898 (Metropolitan Handy Series)
Embroidery for the church: A handbook for designers and stitchers
Weldon's 2D #78 c.1890 - Practical Church Embroidery (Weldon's Practical Needlework)
Church embroidery and church vestments: A complete and practical guide to this fascinating art
