Book Review
While Mary Linwood was most notably known for her needlepoint artistry. We know that she received good press for her work as she received attention from famous rulers like Napoleon Bonaparte who had wanted to show off her work in France. Her artistry even flattered the Royal family to the point where Linwood had left her depiction of Jesus tapestry for Queen Victoria after she had passed away.
One review that struck my interest was about this lady who was commenting some very negative thoughts towards Mary Linwood and her collection. The comment is written about 100 years after her Linwood’s death and is seen in a blog about Linwood’s legacy. Unfortunately, the comment listed below is very negative to the point where she had said it would have been better if Linwood would have never been born. I can’t say that I wasn’t surprised at the blatant hatred and in my opinion abhorrent comment:
The originator and moving spirit of this bad period was Miss Linwood, who conceived the idea of copying oil paintings in woolwork. She died in 1845. Would that she had never been born! When we think of the many years which English women have spent over those wickedly hideous Berlin-wool pictures, working their bad drawing and vilely crude colours into those awful canvases, and imagining that they were earning undying fame as notable women for all the succeeding ages, death was too good for Miss Linwood. The usual boiling oil would have been a fitter end! Miss Linwood made a great furore at the time of her invention, and held an exhibition in the rooms now occupied by Messrs. Puttick & Simpson, Leicester Square. Can we not imagine the shade of the great Sir Joshua Reynolds, whose home and studio these rooms had been, revisiting the glimpses of the moon, and while wandering up and down that famous old staircase forsaking his home for ever after one horrified glance at Miss Linwood’s invention?
Not only Miss Linwood, but Mrs. Delany and Miss Knowles made themselves famous for Berlin-wool pictures. The kindest thing to say is that the specimens which are supposed to have been worked by their own hands are considerably better than those of the half-dozen generations of their followers. During the middle and succeeding twenty years of the nineteenth century the notable housewife of every class amused herself, at the expense of her mind, by working cross-stitch pictures with crudely coloured wools (royal blue and rose-pink, magenta, emerald-green, and deep crimson were supposed to represent the actual colours of Nature), on very coarse canvas.
I found this to be baffling given that in today’s age, we would be inspired by someone as Linwood given she was unmarried and had no children and her father had passed at a young age, yet she had made and kept money in a time where the difficulty for this type of achievement is astronomical. So it really has me thinking and questioning what people thought about her achievements or if they really even considered them as successes at all? I mean it would be pretty hard to deny since she was able to show her work to some very important people around Europe.
Obviously, the gender roles were a lot different in the 18th-20th century, so it is easy to assume that a woman being able to make money on her own without a man might have been frowned upon so if this lady upholds and internalizes the gender norms of society, it would make sense for the negative comments.
I also don’t want to rule out the option of there being potential animosity or jealousy towards Linwood. I don’t know if this would arise any controversy but the fact that it is a woman review a woman and there being obvious hate is something that you can’t ignore. Obviously, I don’t have any background on this lady so it is most likely not my place but I don’t want to ignore the possibility.
We cannot deny the success that Mary Linwood had in her lifetime. The fact that her portraits are still being talked about today are further proof of said success. In today’s time we congratulate a woman who was able to exceed the boundaries that came with her gender in making profit on something that she just loved doing. The fact she ran a school after mother died and was still able to work on her needlepoint outlines her hard work and determination. Although her work didn’t get the recognition it deserved after she had passed away with her whole collection barely selling at less than one thousand pounds is a let down, it is still alive and has transcended time. Her praise and even those who would talk negatively about her and her artistry I would say gives even more proof and recognition to her name as it has to bring her success further into the spotlight. In today’s time and society, it is extremely easy to be proud of a lady of such accomplishments in a time where the conditions for women were harder making the comment above give rise to a sense of disappoint and finding it hard to understand why the animosity towards Linwood.
Another speaks a little bit about the legacy of Linwood and quoting different articles and reviews commenting on Linwood’s work. One was written by an author named William Gardiner who explains the way she worked when he getting a chance to witness the process of the piece coming to life:
“I have understood that Miss Linwood’s mode is analogous to that of a painter; she first sketches the outline, then the parts in detail, and brings out the whole of the design by degrees. I once saw her at work, accoutred as she was with pincushions all round her, stuck with needles, threaded with worsted of every colour, and after having touched the picture with a needle, instead of a brush, she would recede five or six paces back to view the effect. Leicester was a convenient place for dyeing her worsteds; still there were many colours she could not obtain: but being a woman of great genius, she set to work and dyed them herself. Miss Linwood’s skill was well known before she opened her exhibition in London, and it was a common practice for amateurs, in passing through Leicester, to stop and solicit a sight of her extraordinary performances.”
While the date of this comment is not given, I am assuming this is made around the time she passed away through the use of the passed tense. And I liked this comment because it entails the labors of her work. I think this is what separates her from her other work because it shows another level of intimacy with her work. If something wasn’t working out like colors not being obtained, she would mix materials herself. Or viewing her work in different angles and waning the piece to her liking. I am glad that a comment like this is still alive because it adds another layer to her work making it that much special that such art is still around. Especially since it is not as popular as it was back then.
References:
Hughes, Author Kristine. “A Legacy of Needlework- Part Three – Mary Linwood.” Number One London, 4 July 2018, numberonelondon.net/2019/01/a-legacy-of-needlework-part-three-mary-linwood/.
“Mary Linwood's Exhibitions of Her Needlework, 1798-1845.” Jane Austen's World, 21 Mar. 2012, https://janeaustensworld.com/2009/07/29/mary-linwoods-exhibitions-of-her-needlework-1798-1845/.
