Essempio di recammi, page 12 (recto)

Art Historical Context

This woodcut comes fromEssempio di recammi*, a 1530 pattern book printed in Venice by Giovanni Antonio Tagliente in collaboration with the da Sabio brothers. The volume served as a practical guide for embroidery, offering needleworkers reusable designs that could be transferred onto fabric. Page 12 (recto) features delicate motifs of birds and insects, rendered with the crisp lines typical of early-sixteenth-century woodcut technique. During the Renaissance, printed pattern books like Tagliente’s helped spread ornamental ideas across Italy and beyond, allowing skilled amateurs and professionals alike to adorn clothing, linens, and furnishings with fashionable natural motifs. The inclusion of lively birds and insects reflects the period’s growing interest in the natural world, celebrated in both art and science. Printed from carved woodblocks, these images were economical to reproduce and widely circulated, making sophisticated design accessible far beyond court workshops. Today the sheet offers a vivid glimpse into how Renaissance craftspeople transformed printed patterns into stitched works of art.

About the Artist

Giovanni Antonio di Nicolini da Sabio e i fratelli|Giovanni Antonio Tagliente (Italian|Italian) · 1522 |1465 –1545 |1528

Italian, active Venice, ca. 1522–1545|Italian, Venice ca. 1465–1528 Venice