DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1397#0290
PLATE 89.
EMBROIDERED CHASUBLES,
BY L. & E. MARTINI, OF MILAN.
FTALY contributed several very remarkable specimens of embroidery to the Great Exhibition,
from which we have selected two chasubles by Luigi and Brsilia Martini, of Milan, execiited
in silk and gold thread on watered silk. Both these exhibitors, who have an old-established
reputation at Milan, were awarded medals by the Jury. Madame Martini's embossed work in
gold thread was remarkable for its embroidery in relief. L. Martini produces every material
on his own establishment, with the exception of the gold and silver thread, which is obtained
from France: he makes up 150 kilos of articles in fine gold, and 500 kilos gilt; silk stuffs
270 to 500 kilos, representing the value of £8,000, which is doubled in value when finished in
his workshops.
In the official Italian Report it is stated that embroidery in colours on a white ground is
executed with great perfection in Italy: but besides the household work of the embroidresses,
who are often artists of considerable merit, and the work of schools and charitable institutions,
it is in Lombardy only that there is a somewhat extended business of this class, and especially
of embroidery on muslin and jaconet. Embroidery in gold is an important branch of industry
at Milan, where there are twelve workshops for gold ornaments, and 350 to 400 workmen
employed, at wages of lOcZ. to 4s. 2d. per day, and a trade of £24,000 to £28,000 annually.
Pugin states, in his " Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament," that the chasuble was originally
worn by laymen as well as ecclesiastics, and was common to all orders of churchmen, as
may be seen by the Sacramentary of St. Gregory and the most ancient Roman Ordinals.
Its primitive form was perfectly round, with an aperture in the centre for the head: in this
form it covered the whole body. " Over all the priestly garments," writes Durandus, in his
curious "Rationale Divinorum Officiorum," "is put on the casula or chasuble; called casula,
quasi parva casa; and by the Greeks, planeta, from the winding border of the vestment.
The chasuble denotes charity; for as charity covers a multitude of sins, so the vestment
covers all the person. The breadth of the chasuble implies the wide extent of charity."
Some ancient representations give the shape cut at the sides, as now in use, only much
longer and pointed at the bottom. Such are the chasubles in which SS. Peter and Paul are
figured in some ancient stained glass, given by Buonarotti, in his " Osservaz' sopra alcuni
Fram11," tav. XIV. One of the earliest examples extant, especially interesting for its figure-
worked border, dates as far back as the 6th century; it is the fine "diptych" chasuble, on the
orphrey of which St. Apollinaris, first bishop of Ravenna, is pictured, the remains of which
are preserved in the church of St. Apollinaris, Ravenna: this vestment was originally 6 feet
8 inches in length. Though some examples occur of a shorter chasuble, and a little open at
the sides, yet they were certainly for the most part very full, and reached to the feet, and that
down to a late period. Subsequently, however, the chasuble has been so cut and curtailed and
changed in form, as, when compared with the shape from which it has degenerated, to be
hardly worthy of the same name of chasuble, as Lindanus, " de Panoplia Evangel.," complains.
The orphreys or borders of the chasuble were originally richly ornamented with Scripture
figure-subjects, portraits of bishops, saints, &c.; and the chasuble itself was the most richly
decorated of all ecclesiastical vestments. The examples exhibited show a great falling off in this
respect, and the style, which is a faint tradition of 18th century work, is not one we would
recommend for general adoption.
\
EMBROIDERED CHASUBLES,
BY L. & E. MARTINI, OF MILAN.
FTALY contributed several very remarkable specimens of embroidery to the Great Exhibition,
from which we have selected two chasubles by Luigi and Brsilia Martini, of Milan, execiited
in silk and gold thread on watered silk. Both these exhibitors, who have an old-established
reputation at Milan, were awarded medals by the Jury. Madame Martini's embossed work in
gold thread was remarkable for its embroidery in relief. L. Martini produces every material
on his own establishment, with the exception of the gold and silver thread, which is obtained
from France: he makes up 150 kilos of articles in fine gold, and 500 kilos gilt; silk stuffs
270 to 500 kilos, representing the value of £8,000, which is doubled in value when finished in
his workshops.
In the official Italian Report it is stated that embroidery in colours on a white ground is
executed with great perfection in Italy: but besides the household work of the embroidresses,
who are often artists of considerable merit, and the work of schools and charitable institutions,
it is in Lombardy only that there is a somewhat extended business of this class, and especially
of embroidery on muslin and jaconet. Embroidery in gold is an important branch of industry
at Milan, where there are twelve workshops for gold ornaments, and 350 to 400 workmen
employed, at wages of lOcZ. to 4s. 2d. per day, and a trade of £24,000 to £28,000 annually.
Pugin states, in his " Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament," that the chasuble was originally
worn by laymen as well as ecclesiastics, and was common to all orders of churchmen, as
may be seen by the Sacramentary of St. Gregory and the most ancient Roman Ordinals.
Its primitive form was perfectly round, with an aperture in the centre for the head: in this
form it covered the whole body. " Over all the priestly garments," writes Durandus, in his
curious "Rationale Divinorum Officiorum," "is put on the casula or chasuble; called casula,
quasi parva casa; and by the Greeks, planeta, from the winding border of the vestment.
The chasuble denotes charity; for as charity covers a multitude of sins, so the vestment
covers all the person. The breadth of the chasuble implies the wide extent of charity."
Some ancient representations give the shape cut at the sides, as now in use, only much
longer and pointed at the bottom. Such are the chasubles in which SS. Peter and Paul are
figured in some ancient stained glass, given by Buonarotti, in his " Osservaz' sopra alcuni
Fram11," tav. XIV. One of the earliest examples extant, especially interesting for its figure-
worked border, dates as far back as the 6th century; it is the fine "diptych" chasuble, on the
orphrey of which St. Apollinaris, first bishop of Ravenna, is pictured, the remains of which
are preserved in the church of St. Apollinaris, Ravenna: this vestment was originally 6 feet
8 inches in length. Though some examples occur of a shorter chasuble, and a little open at
the sides, yet they were certainly for the most part very full, and reached to the feet, and that
down to a late period. Subsequently, however, the chasuble has been so cut and curtailed and
changed in form, as, when compared with the shape from which it has degenerated, to be
hardly worthy of the same name of chasuble, as Lindanus, " de Panoplia Evangel.," complains.
The orphreys or borders of the chasuble were originally richly ornamented with Scripture
figure-subjects, portraits of bishops, saints, &c.; and the chasuble itself was the most richly
decorated of all ecclesiastical vestments. The examples exhibited show a great falling off in this
respect, and the style, which is a faint tradition of 18th century work, is not one we would
recommend for general adoption.
\