Essempio di recammi, page 23 (recto)

Art Historical Context

Created in 1530, *Essempio di recammi* (Examples of Embroidery) is a rare early pattern book printed in Venice by Giovanni Antonio Tagliente and his brothers. This woodcut from page 23 (recto) presents delicate floral motifs designed as practical templates for needleworkers. As one of the first printed manuals dedicated to embroidery, it helped spread ornamental designs beyond the workshops of court artisans to a wider audience of skilled women and professional embroiderers. The woodcut medium was ideally suited to this purpose. Its crisp lines and repeatable patterns allowed fine botanical details—stylized leaves, blossoms, and scrolling vines—to be reproduced accurately across multiple copies. Such books played a quiet but important role in Renaissance material culture, transforming embroidery from an exclusive courtly art into a more accessible domestic practice while preserving the elegant vocabulary of ornament that also appeared in architecture and metalwork. Today this sheet offers a vivid glimpse into how printed images shaped everyday creativity in sixteenth-century Italy.

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