2-756-588 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Italian Renaissance lace, (1898). 'Figs 1, 2 and 3: Venetian point lace. Figs 4, 5 and 6: Venetian point lace in relief. Figs 7 and 8: Venetian point lace in relief with highly raised leaves. Fig 9: Roselina-lace. Fig 10: Reticella-lace. Fig 11: Italian Guipure. Fig 12: Genoa church-lace. Fig 13: Collar in Venetian Guipure...The art of lace-making, unknown to the ancients, and no doubt, not brought to artistic perfection previously to the close of the 15th century, may truly be called a creation of the Renaissance. And it is the soil of Italy, principally the two cities of Venice and Genoa, to which we owe the needle-made lace as well as the finest kind of pillow-lace. The former (the so-called point) is to be considered as the more precious kind. The method of making it - ground and ornament consisting of nothing but an infinity of stitches made a jour - admits of an extremely delicate and graceful formation. But its execution requires a very complicated and difficult process, as only small pieces of about 10 cm dimension can be made at a time, which, after being done, must be joined so as to form a complete whole, for which reason, in designing the patterns, the possibility of a scarcely visible joining of the several parts must be taken into account'. Plate 50 from "The Historic Styles of Ornament" translated from the German of H. Dolmetsch. [B.T. Batford, London, 1898]