Mary Linwood
Encyclopedia
Mary Linwood was a needle woman who exhibited her worsted embroidery or crewel embroidery
in Leicester and London, and was the school mistress of a private school later known as Mary Linwood Comprehensive School
. She received a medal in 1790 from the Society of Arts.
Born in Birmingham in 1755, Mary Linwood moved to Leicester
in 1764 with her family after her father, a wine merchant, became bankrupt. He died young and her mother opened a private boarding school for young ladies in Belgrave Gate. When her mother died Mary took over the school and continued it for 50 years. Mary made her first embroidered picture when she was thirteen years old, and by 1775 had established herself as a needlework artist. By the age of 31, Mary had attracted the attention of the royal family, and she was invited to Windsor Castle by Queen Charlotte to show her work.
Exhibitions
For nearly seventy-five years Mary worked in worsted embroidery, producing a collection of over 100 pictures that specialised in full size copies of old masters. She opened an exhibition in the Hanover Square Rooms
in 1798, which afterward traveled to Leicester Square, Edinburgh and Dublin. Mary Linwood's copies of old master paintings in crewel wool (named from the crewel or worsted wool used), in which the irregular and sloping stitches resembled brushwork, achieved great fame from the time of her first London exhibition in 1787. She met most of the crowned heads of Europe. She exhibited in Russia and Catherine the Great offered £40,000 for the whole collection while the Tsar offered her £3,000 for one example. However, Mary refused as she wished her work to remain in England. On one occasion her copy of a painting by the Italian artist Salvator Rosa (1615-1673) sold for more than the original. One of Mary's own designs, the Judgement of Cain, took ten years to complete.
Her exhibition in Leicester Square, London, was the first art show to be illuminated by gaslight. The exhibition consisted of copies of paintings after such masters as Carlo Dolci
, Guido
, Ruisdael, Opie, Morland, Gainsborough
and Reynolds
. Mary's subjects also included Lady Jane Grey
and Napoleon, whose portrait was said to have been done from life. He conferred on Mary the Freedom of Paris in 1803. So successful was Mary Linwood that she was able to commission John Hoppner
(1758-1810) to paint the portrait on this page. By this time Hoppner was principal painter to the Prince of Wales (later George IV) and the most important portraitist in England. John Constable
's (1776-1837) first commissioned work was to paint the background details in one of her works. Mary is said to have refused an offer of 3000 guineas for her version of Carlo Dolci's Salvator Mundi, and instead bequeathed it to Queen Victoria.
The needle work pictures continued to be exhibited in Leicester square in London continuously for forty years.
Legal Dispute
Mary's needlework exhibition was housed in the old Savile House on Leicester Square, which also housed William Green's Pistol Repository and Shooting Gallery from 1836-1855 in a rebuilt section upstairs. The run-down building had been leased to Mary Linwood and associates at the turn of the century. It was subsequently rebuilt and refurbished from 1806 - 1809 by architect Joseph Page (1718-1776). Linwood displayed her work in a long gallery on the first floor from 1809 until her death in 1845. A legal dispute regarding the payment for renovations became a decades long battle, which eventually landed in The House of Lords in 1837. The House decided the case against Mary and her partners, who were ordered to pay Page. In 1865, Savile House was destroyed by fire.
Musician and novelist
Mary was also musician and wrote a number of novels. She is known to have composed a short oratorio entitled David's First Victory dedicated to Queen Adelaide
which was performed in 1840.
Death
Four years before her death in 1845, Mary's works were still exhibited in London. She worked with stitches of different lengths on a fabric made especially for her in Leicester, and had coarse linen tammy cloth prepared for her as well. Her long and short stitches looked like brush strokes, with silk for highlights. She inspired many amateurs in later years to copy her needlework techniques on a smaller scale. Mary embroidered her last piece when she was seventy-eight, although she lived to be ninety and worked as a school mistress until a year before her death. She never married and, according to the Greater Wigston Historical Society, was the last person in Leicester to use a Sedan chair. In 1845, during her annual visit to her Exhibition in London, Mary Linwood, by then regarded as the most celebrated needlewoman of her age, caught the flu and died. She was buried in St. Margaret's Church, Leicester, a church she regularly attended. Her entire collection was dispersed at Christie's room, where the pieces were sold for sums far below those at which they had been valued a few years previously.
Crewel embroidery
Crewel Embroidery, or Crewelwork, is a decorative form of surface embroidery using wool and a variety of different embroidery stitches to follow a design outline applied to the fabric. The technique is at least a thousand years old...
in Leicester and London, and was the school mistress of a private school later known as Mary Linwood Comprehensive School
Mary Linwood Comprehensive School
Mary Linwood Comprehensive School was a secondary school located in the English city of Leicester.The school was an all girls school till 1976 when it started to admit boys from the, closing, Linwood Boys school, the last year of all girls left in 1980...
. She received a medal in 1790 from the Society of Arts.
Biography
Early LifeBorn in Birmingham in 1755, Mary Linwood moved to Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
in 1764 with her family after her father, a wine merchant, became bankrupt. He died young and her mother opened a private boarding school for young ladies in Belgrave Gate. When her mother died Mary took over the school and continued it for 50 years. Mary made her first embroidered picture when she was thirteen years old, and by 1775 had established herself as a needlework artist. By the age of 31, Mary had attracted the attention of the royal family, and she was invited to Windsor Castle by Queen Charlotte to show her work.
Exhibitions
For nearly seventy-five years Mary worked in worsted embroidery, producing a collection of over 100 pictures that specialised in full size copies of old masters. She opened an exhibition in the Hanover Square Rooms
Hanover Square Rooms
The Hanover Square Rooms or the Queen's Concert Rooms were assembly rooms established, principally for musical performances, on the corner of Hanover Square, London, by Sir John Gallini in partnership with Johann Christian Bach and Carl Friedrich Abel in 1774. For exactly one century this was the...
in 1798, which afterward traveled to Leicester Square, Edinburgh and Dublin. Mary Linwood's copies of old master paintings in crewel wool (named from the crewel or worsted wool used), in which the irregular and sloping stitches resembled brushwork, achieved great fame from the time of her first London exhibition in 1787. She met most of the crowned heads of Europe. She exhibited in Russia and Catherine the Great offered £40,000 for the whole collection while the Tsar offered her £3,000 for one example. However, Mary refused as she wished her work to remain in England. On one occasion her copy of a painting by the Italian artist Salvator Rosa (1615-1673) sold for more than the original. One of Mary's own designs, the Judgement of Cain, took ten years to complete.
Her exhibition in Leicester Square, London, was the first art show to be illuminated by gaslight. The exhibition consisted of copies of paintings after such masters as Carlo Dolci
Carlo Dolci
Carlo Dolci was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Florence, known for highly finished religious pictures, often repeated in many versions.-Biography:...
, Guido
Guido
Guido is a given name of Italian origin also utilised as a given name in Spanish. Guido is derived from the Ancient Germanic Wido. and Latin name Vito...
, Ruisdael, Opie, Morland, Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough
Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Suffolk:Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woolen goods. At the age of thirteen he impressed his father with his penciling skills so that he let...
and Reynolds
Reynolds
-Places:In the United States:*Reynolds, California**Reynolds, Marin County, California**Reynolds, Mendocino County, California**Reynolds, Tulare County, California* Reynolds, Georgia* Reynolds, Illinois* Reynolds, Indiana* Reynolds, Nebraska...
. Mary's subjects also included Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey
Lady Jane Grey , also known as The Nine Days' Queen, was an English noblewoman who was de facto monarch of England from 10 July until 19 July 1553 and was subsequently executed...
and Napoleon, whose portrait was said to have been done from life. He conferred on Mary the Freedom of Paris in 1803. So successful was Mary Linwood that she was able to commission John Hoppner
John Hoppner
John Hoppner was an English portrait painter, .-Early life:Hoppner was born in Whitechapel, London, the son of German parents - his mother was one of the German attendants at the royal palace. King George's fatherly interest and patronage of the young boy gave rise to rumours, quite unfounded,...
(1758-1810) to paint the portrait on this page. By this time Hoppner was principal painter to the Prince of Wales (later George IV) and the most important portraitist in England. John Constable
John Constable
John Constable was an English Romantic painter. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape paintings of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home—now known as "Constable Country"—which he invested with an intensity of affection...
's (1776-1837) first commissioned work was to paint the background details in one of her works. Mary is said to have refused an offer of 3000 guineas for her version of Carlo Dolci's Salvator Mundi, and instead bequeathed it to Queen Victoria.
The needle work pictures continued to be exhibited in Leicester square in London continuously for forty years.
Legal Dispute
Mary's needlework exhibition was housed in the old Savile House on Leicester Square, which also housed William Green's Pistol Repository and Shooting Gallery from 1836-1855 in a rebuilt section upstairs. The run-down building had been leased to Mary Linwood and associates at the turn of the century. It was subsequently rebuilt and refurbished from 1806 - 1809 by architect Joseph Page (1718-1776). Linwood displayed her work in a long gallery on the first floor from 1809 until her death in 1845. A legal dispute regarding the payment for renovations became a decades long battle, which eventually landed in The House of Lords in 1837. The House decided the case against Mary and her partners, who were ordered to pay Page. In 1865, Savile House was destroyed by fire.
Musician and novelist
Mary was also musician and wrote a number of novels. She is known to have composed a short oratorio entitled David's First Victory dedicated to Queen Adelaide
Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen
Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and of Hanover as spouse of William IV of the United Kingdom. Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia, is named after her.-Early life:Adelaide was born on 13 August 1792 at Meiningen, Thuringia, Germany...
which was performed in 1840.
Death
Four years before her death in 1845, Mary's works were still exhibited in London. She worked with stitches of different lengths on a fabric made especially for her in Leicester, and had coarse linen tammy cloth prepared for her as well. Her long and short stitches looked like brush strokes, with silk for highlights. She inspired many amateurs in later years to copy her needlework techniques on a smaller scale. Mary embroidered her last piece when she was seventy-eight, although she lived to be ninety and worked as a school mistress until a year before her death. She never married and, according to the Greater Wigston Historical Society, was the last person in Leicester to use a Sedan chair. In 1845, during her annual visit to her Exhibition in London, Mary Linwood, by then regarded as the most celebrated needlewoman of her age, caught the flu and died. She was buried in St. Margaret's Church, Leicester, a church she regularly attended. Her entire collection was dispersed at Christie's room, where the pieces were sold for sums far below those at which they had been valued a few years previously.
External links
- Biography of Mary Linwood's Life in Bygone Leicestershire, pp 238-243, 1892
- Miss Linwood's Gallery, Catalog of her Exhibition, 1822
- Mary Linwood Exhibition
- Mary Linwood
- Mary Linwood's Exhibitions of Her Needlework, 1798-1845
- Needlework picture of an owl, circa 1790
- Mary Linwood gallery
- Mary Linwood, Leicester City Council