But this is exactly what they did do! And we can trace some of this--there is evidence that high-quality thread (such as the Flemish linen, which was universally known to be the finest and best for lacemaking) was imported and exported, though not in the same amounts (of course) as lace. There are many assessments of the lace-making industries (using industry in its oldest sense of organized work) in all the lace-making countries which indicate that patterns were copied and changed to suit fashion changes--not merely in domestic fashion but in the fashions of the target market--so, even if the South Netherlands provinces remained technically independant of France, for example, the Flemish lacemakers adapted their work to French tastes because so much of their lace would be exported into France. The peasant laces people made for *their own* use remained localized, but high-quality lace was as international a commodity as popular music is today. The Beatles came from Liverpool but they affected music everywhere, even music of a very different nature from their own.
Incidentally, Elisa Ricci, who must be considered a pretty respectable authority on Italian laces, describes the Venetian attempts to recapture the lace market by copying the new French styles--"Some last few elements of the glorious past linger in the Venetian Point with meshwork toile the combined clearness and richness of which eclipse that Alencon it resembles. This admirable needle-lace... upheld the glory of Venetian Point, until the end of the XVIII century, when it died in splendour." She provides a few plates at the end of the Punto In Aria section of Volume I of Old Italian Lace (plates 362-364) as illustration. This can be found online at the Univ. of Ariz. site with which all Arachnids should be familiar! So the fact that there were copies of northern laces made in Italy seems pretty clear, although the provenance of any particular specimen of lace can be a subject of eternal argument. Personally, if I'm moved and excited by a beautiful piece of workmanship, I'm less interested in exactly where it was made than I am in the work that inspired it and the work it inspired--even if the inspirations and the inspired were widely scattered in both space and time! JMHO, of course.... Sue in Raleigh. >Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 09:38:56 -0700 >From: Adele Shaak <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: [lace] Point de Venise a reseau > ><snip> >As for my opinion, I'm plunking my money down on a Flemish origin, >based solely on looking at pictures. The designs seem to me to more >closely resemble the northern French & Flemish laces than the Italian >laces. Earnshaw discounts this, saying the Italians deliberately copied >the more successful finer laces of the period and deliberately imported >the finer Belgian thread. > >Good Grief! - if people go around deliberately making copies with the >original materials, how are we ever supposed to figure this out? > >Adele >North Vancouver, BC >(west coast of Canada) Susan Lambiris Raleigh, NC [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
