For the first time Elizabeth felt real
concern for her husband’s sanity as Darcy was insistent that during the balloon
flight over Pemberley Park with Dr Mc Fee, they had indeed seen Jesus and
Rebecca at the old well on the south side of the lake.
What had led to this strange sighting and
how had it come to be recorded in an early 19th century wool work
picture?
When my brother bought a fire screen at a second hand shop down in Porthleven, it wasn’t for the needlework picture that it contained. The fire screen simply happened to be the perfect size for his sitting room fireplace. While it did the job of screening, the 19th century wool picture depicting Jesus at the well with Rebecca had little to do with the later oak frame. Typical of so many embroideries of this period it was done on a background of silk over cotton, and the detailed parts such as face, hands and feet were simply painted onto the silk. With time the silk had split and the face of Jesus had curled away from the body. There is no satisfactory way of repairing this sort of damage.
My brother is a great admirer of the Arts
and Crafts movement, and it seemed obvious to me that the screen should contain
something more appropriate to it actual age as well as being more appealing to
him. So, I took the measurements and inspired by a design by William Morris
drew out what I thought would work. The original design was stitched by Morris’s
daughter Mary and consisted of a central ribbed baluster vase filled with stylised
roses and another flower with more spiky petals. I decided to introduce colour
into the leaves and flowers with some painted decoration, while the rest was
stitched using Harris Tweed yarns. The screen now holds pride of place in front
of the fire place, but I was still left with the question of what to do with
Jesus and Rebecca. The damaged wool work picture had no value as such and yet
how could I consign the remaining competent embroidery to the bin. The remaining
silk would have to be removed and the cotton backing reinforced if I was to add
any further embroidery. I started with the now missing heads arms and feet.
Never very easy to get a pleasing effect using wool as with silks, but there is
a certain charm in the naivety of it. The question then remained of what to do
with the large open space above. Since there already was a classical circular
temple to the right I decided to incorporate a large mansion house with formal
grounds and a lake. For the house itself I left the old cotton backing visible,
stitching only the detail of the architecture. I included a tree to the right
to help balance out the composition but this still left a large amount of sky.
Why not include a hot air balloon, which must have been an adventure equal to
the grand tour for those who could afford it. And so the strange image was
completed, since I had also been reading P.D. James’s book “Death comes to
Pemberley”, the equally odd explanatory text came to mind.
