Opera Nova Universali intitulata Corona di racammi, page 3 (verso) 1530

This is a woodcut book page made by Giovanni Andrea Vavassore in Venice sometime in the mid-16th century. It's a design for needlework, a pattern book offering new ideas for the decoration of clothing and household textiles. In Renaissance Italy, pattern books like this played an important role in shaping visual culture. Italy was the heart of the luxury textile trade and Venetian workshops were famous for their lace and embroidery. These designs catered to the growing demand for fashionable goods amongst the rising merchant class and the nobility alike. The floral motifs reflect the influence of classical art and the natural world, both newly important at this time. But what’s easily missed is how these pattern books provided women with one of the only avenues for artistic expression available to them. Though anonymous, countless women practiced and perfected these intricate designs, and made them their own. To understand this image more fully, we need to investigate the economic history of Venice, the material culture of the Renaissance, and the role of women in the art world. The history of art is always the history of its social context.