Old Venetian lace has always been considered one of the high points of the textile arts, what with its imaginative design, technical brilliance, and universal appeal to all lands and times. It was the ancestor of most of the important laces that have since been made in Europe, and surviving specimens are the treasured possessions of the great museums of the world. Federico Vinciolo is one of the masters within this art. A leading Venetian designer, he was summoned in France to the court of Henry II, probably by Catherine de Medici, where he had the monopoly on manufacturing lace neck ruffs. In 1587 Vinciolo published a collection of his best patterns and designs, Les singuliers et nouveaux pourtraicts, which went through more than a dozen printings in France and Italy. It remains one of the basic books in the history of lace. For the modern needleworker who wishes to recapture the charm of this antique lace, Vinciolo's book offers 98 plates of fine patterns and designs in various techniques: needlepoint, darned netting, point coupé, counted thread work, and others. These include geometric forms, exuberant treatment of classical motives, Italian and Levantine designs, and mush else that the modern worker, able to pick out a pattern, can re-create. Most of this material is nowhere else available. Vinciolo's designs are also of interest to the graphic artist who wishes delicate yet forceful textile images.

Superb reproduction of most popular 16th-century lace design book. Nearly 100 original patterns for point coupe, reticella, and guipure; the second part describes square netting and embroidery. 83 full-page plates.

This collection of extraordinary lace pattern illustrations dating from 1598 are the work of Isabella Catanea Parasole, a Roman artist, lacemaker and embroiderer. The classic motifs, borders and scenes can be easily adapted by modern needleworkers for embroidery as well as the traditional lace techniques they were originally intended for- Reticella, bobbin lace and crochet.

This Bulletin discusses the Met's extensive collection of Renaissance textile pattern books, used primarily by women to embroider clothes and accessories. The practice of embroidery was seen as a virtuous endeavor, and textile pattern books, published with great frequency from the 1520s onward, were designed to inspire, instruct, and encourage "beautiful and virtuous women" in this esteemed practice. Straddling the disciplines of early printmaking, ornament design, and textile decoration, these works help shed light on the crucial period when the concept of fashion as a means of distinguishing individual identity became fixed in Western society.