Embroidered Gardens
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Few art forms capture the romance of the garden with such intimate fidelity as the needle and thread, and Embroidered Gardens by Thomasina Beck stands as the definitive testament to this remarkable tradition. This richly illustrated volume chronicles centuries of needlework art in which gardens — their flowers, fountains, topiary, and garden walls — served as the primary inspiration for embroiderers across Europe, from the grand tapestries of Tudor England to the delicate silkwork of the Georgian era. Beck presents her subject with the authority of a scholar and the passion of a connoisseur, drawing on an extraordinary range of historical textiles to argue that embroidered gardens are far more than decorative curiosities — they are vivid social documents that illuminate how each era imagined its ideal natural world. Her elegant, authoritative prose uncovers the symbolic language woven into each stitch, from the heraldic roses of the medieval period to the exotic botanical specimens that arrived with the age of exploration. For anyone captivated by the history of needlework, garden design, or decorative arts, this volume raises a tantalising question: what other histories lie quietly stitched into the fabric of the past?
Author: Thomasina Beck
Format: Hardback
Published: 1979, Viking Press
Genre: The arts
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Few art forms capture the romance of the garden with such intimate fidelity as the needle and thread, and Embroidered Gardens by Thomasina Beck stands as the definitive testament to this remarkable tradition. This richly illustrated volume chronicles centuries of needlework art in which gardens — their flowers, fountains, topiary, and garden walls — served as the primary inspiration for embroiderers across Europe, from the grand tapestries of Tudor England to the delicate silkwork of the Georgian era. Beck presents her subject with the authority of a scholar and the passion of a connoisseur, drawing on an extraordinary range of historical textiles to argue that embroidered gardens are far more than decorative curiosities — they are vivid social documents that illuminate how each era imagined its ideal natural world. Her elegant, authoritative prose uncovers the symbolic language woven into each stitch, from the heraldic roses of the medieval period to the exotic botanical specimens that arrived with the age of exploration. For anyone captivated by the history of needlework, garden design, or decorative arts, this volume raises a tantalising question: what other histories lie quietly stitched into the fabric of the past?