456 Chapter 17 ROMANESQUE EUROPET
he most famous embroidery of the Middle Ages is, ironically,
known as the Bayeux Tapestry (FIG. 17-35). Embroidery and ta-
pestry are related but different means of decorating textiles.Tapestry
designs are woven on a loom as part of the fabric.Embroidery pat-
terns are sewn onto fabric with threads.
The needleworkers who fashioned the Bayeux Tapestry were
either Norman or English women. They employed eight colors of
dyed wool—two varieties of blue, three shades of green, yellow, buff,
and terracotta red—and two kinds of stitches. In stem stitching,
short overlapping strands of thread form jagged lines.Laid-and-
couched work creates solid blocks of color. In the latter technique, the
needleworker first lays down a series of parallel and then a series of
cross stitches. Finally, the stitcher tacks down the cross-hatched
threads using couching (knotting). On the Bayeux Tapestry,the em-
broiderers left the natural linen color exposed for the background,
human flesh, building walls, and other “colorless” design elements.
Stem stitches define the contours of figures and buildings and delin-
eate interior details, such as facial features, body armor, and roof
tiles. The clothing, animal bodies, and other solid areas are laid-and-
couched work.Embroidery and Tapestry
MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES
17-35Funeral procession to Westminster Abbey (top) and Battle ofHastings (bottom), details of the Bayeux Tapestry,from
Bayeux Cathedral, Bayeux, France, ca. 1070–1080. Embroidered wool on linen, 1 8 high (entire length of fabric 229 8 ).
Centre Guillaume le Conquérant, Bayeux.
The Bayeux Tapestryis unique in medieval art. Like historical narratives in ancient Roman art, it depicts contemporaneous events
in full detail, as in the scroll-like frieze of Trajan’s Column (FIG. 10-44).1 in.1 in.