Picture
Title
Virgo Fidelis
Object name
Date made
Circa 1920
Place made
Description
A scene from the Litany of Loreto embroidery series, depicting the Virgin Mary supporting a father praying for his injured child. The Virgin Mary is identified as Virgo Fidelis in this embroidery, which is one of 12 panels illustrating the names of the Virgin from The Litany of Loreto, embroidered circa 1920.
Content description
A rectangular panel embroidered with a scene of the Virgin Mary accompanying a praying father and injured child, worked in silk and metal threads on silk satin. The Virgin Mary is identified by the halo which reads 'VIRGO FIDELIS' or 'Virgin Most Faithful'. She is depicted watching over a supplicant figure who is praying for their injured child before a bust of the Virgin, which hides behind a vase of flowers. This is perhaps a demonstration of Mary's faithfulness to all of God's children. Her veil could also be a symbol of her role as a faithful bride. The neckline of her robe is adorned with a cherubim adjoining to swirling vines, while the rest of the garment is adorned in fleur-de-lys and stars. The father wears a medieval-inspired tunic of chain mail with a metallic belt, from which a pouch hangs. The injured child in the man's arms has a bandaged head and an arm in a sling. The trio of figures stand in a landscape with flowers in the foreground and vines on the borders of the picture. The scene is framed by a border of gold Japanese threads in S-ing and couching, flanked by tiny stem stitches.
The design has been embroidered onto a cream silk satin ground using a muted palette of creams, greys, black, and brown, with shinier areas in silk floss and more matte areas in filoselle. The couched goldwork is worked in various sizes of Japanese thread. Outlines are worked in stem stitch and split stitch, and the general use of a black thread outline for the figures gives them strong definition. Hair is worked in dense and finely shaded long and short stitch to emphasise light catching curls and waves. Faces are very lightly worked with fine straight stitch cross-hatching in the same colour as the ground fabric or slightly darker to suggest modelling. Much of the piece is shaded with cross-hatching worked in trellis stitches, such as the man's garment, the shading of Mary's robes, and the plinth upon the Virgin Mary statue and stem stitched flowers sit. The vines and leaves along the picture's borders are worked in straight, long and short, and satin stitches.
The overall effect is to emphasise the delicate line, light, and shade of the design, which is a very distinctive feature of all the embroideries in this Litany of Loreto series. This series includes twelve embroideries, all now in the possession of the Royal School of Needlework. Thanks to work done by Mary Corbet and John A. Shaffer, we know that these embroideries were produced from designs by Italian graphic designer Ezio Anichini, who trained at the Florence School of Art in 1900. Anichini first produced 46 designs based on the Litany of Loreto, a litany to the Virgin Mary, in 1912, when they appeared in the magazine Scena Illustrata. Following the magazine's release of these images, they appeared in two book-format editions with postcard-sized reproductions. The last was issued in 1930. These twelve embroideries were produced by an unknown maker or makers, likely sometime after the original 1912 production of the Anichini designs. It is unknown whether they were originally part of a larger group. By 1970 the twelve panels were in the possession of the Mayfield Convent in East Sussex, England. They were donated to the Royal School of Needlework upon the closure of the convent in the 1970s.
Anichini’s designs were derived from the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary approved by Pope Sixtus V in 1587 for use throughout the Catholic Church. The litany is also known as the Litany of Loreto, as it originated at the Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto (Basilica della Sandra Casa) near Ancona, on the east coast of Italy. This had been a place of pilgrimage since the 13th century when a cottage presumed to be that lived in by the Virgin apparently appeared at the site, and a shrine was built to mark the event. The original litany lists the names used in the church for the Virgin Mary, often chanted as a call and response.
The name used in this embroidery, ‘Virgo Fidelis' in Latin, can be translated as Virgin Most Faithful, demonstrating the enduring faith of the Virgin Mary.
The design has been embroidered onto a cream silk satin ground using a muted palette of creams, greys, black, and brown, with shinier areas in silk floss and more matte areas in filoselle. The couched goldwork is worked in various sizes of Japanese thread. Outlines are worked in stem stitch and split stitch, and the general use of a black thread outline for the figures gives them strong definition. Hair is worked in dense and finely shaded long and short stitch to emphasise light catching curls and waves. Faces are very lightly worked with fine straight stitch cross-hatching in the same colour as the ground fabric or slightly darker to suggest modelling. Much of the piece is shaded with cross-hatching worked in trellis stitches, such as the man's garment, the shading of Mary's robes, and the plinth upon the Virgin Mary statue and stem stitched flowers sit. The vines and leaves along the picture's borders are worked in straight, long and short, and satin stitches.
The overall effect is to emphasise the delicate line, light, and shade of the design, which is a very distinctive feature of all the embroideries in this Litany of Loreto series. This series includes twelve embroideries, all now in the possession of the Royal School of Needlework. Thanks to work done by Mary Corbet and John A. Shaffer, we know that these embroideries were produced from designs by Italian graphic designer Ezio Anichini, who trained at the Florence School of Art in 1900. Anichini first produced 46 designs based on the Litany of Loreto, a litany to the Virgin Mary, in 1912, when they appeared in the magazine Scena Illustrata. Following the magazine's release of these images, they appeared in two book-format editions with postcard-sized reproductions. The last was issued in 1930. These twelve embroideries were produced by an unknown maker or makers, likely sometime after the original 1912 production of the Anichini designs. It is unknown whether they were originally part of a larger group. By 1970 the twelve panels were in the possession of the Mayfield Convent in East Sussex, England. They were donated to the Royal School of Needlework upon the closure of the convent in the 1970s.
Anichini’s designs were derived from the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary approved by Pope Sixtus V in 1587 for use throughout the Catholic Church. The litany is also known as the Litany of Loreto, as it originated at the Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto (Basilica della Sandra Casa) near Ancona, on the east coast of Italy. This had been a place of pilgrimage since the 13th century when a cottage presumed to be that lived in by the Virgin apparently appeared at the site, and a shrine was built to mark the event. The original litany lists the names used in the church for the Virgin Mary, often chanted as a call and response.
The name used in this embroidery, ‘Virgo Fidelis' in Latin, can be translated as Virgin Most Faithful, demonstrating the enduring faith of the Virgin Mary.
Dimensions
width: 61cm
height: 78cm
height: 78cm
Materials
Stitches
Trellis 
Satin stitch
Straight stitch
Stem stitch
Split stitch
S-ing (goldwork)
Bricking
Couching
Long and short stitch
Satin stitch
Straight stitch
Stem stitch
Split stitch
S-ing (goldwork)
Bricking
Couching
Long and short stitch
Techniques
Motifs
Credit line
Gift of Mayfield Convent, 1970s.
Catalogue number
RSN.1208
© Royal School of Needlework