Embroidery Graphics from 1770

Charles Germain de Saint-Aubin (1721-1786), the designer to King Louis the XV of France, was the son of a family of embroiderers.  His highly revered book L’Art du Brodeur is a compilation of stitching techniques, technical terms, and self-drawn illustrations depicting embroidery of the highest degree. St-Aubin's published treatise served as a methodology for the Academie Royale of 18th century France and onward.. Illustrations, engraved onto printing plates, illuminate the details and techniques described in the text. In 1983, this famous pedagogy of embroidery was translated into English from a facsimile by Edward Maeder, then Curator of Textiles and Costumes for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Nikki Sheurer, and Professor Alexandre Rainof.  

These illustrations are influential works of instructional graphics. They could be read by craftspeople who were non-literate or non-French-speaking. Plate 2 of ten is an illustration of both an 18th century boutique or work room and a fleuron, a floral ornament embroidered in rappaport style. In the boutique or workroom, two women work opposite each other, catering to either left- or right-handed embellishments, carefully applying the stitchwork on a pre-stretched and marked canvas. To the left, the master embroiderer stretches a canvas, marking the areas of a chasuble, a church vestment, which will be embroidered for liturgical purposes. .  

Below the workroom is an illustration drawn in stages of rappaport style embroidery, an applique embroidered in sections and then applied, allowing the artisan to create the figure in low- or high-relief. First, an outline of the desired object is created (Fig.2). The embroidery is then separated into four sections (Fig.3), which provides the starting point and the first layer of stitches, serving as the ground to the subject.. Additional lines are stitched overtop, crosswise (Fig.4), creating a background and raised stitches before adding the final top layer of stitches (Fig.5), in the direction of the motif and in the chosen threads. The shapes are outlined with a special thread (Fig.6), cut, and prepped for assembly (Fig.7).  Finally, the separated sections are stitched atop of each other on the main fabric (Fig.8). Felt or batting can be added for a more prominent 3-dimensional relief.  

These illustrations are as important as the text, in that they share the graphic design language of the 18th century and a step-by-step methodology for the embroidered arts in 18th century France. 

Chill, Emanuel S. "Tartuffe, Religion, and Courtly Culture." French Historical Studies 3, no. 2 (1963): 151-83.

Jones, Colin. “PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: FRENCH CROSSINGS: II. LAUGHING OVER BOUNDARIES.” Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 21 (2011): 1–38. 

 de Saint-Aubin, Charles Germain.  Art of the Embroiderer. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Boston: David R. Godine, Publisher, Inc. 1983. English translation of L’art du Brodeur, 1770.