Flight and Fortune

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On beginning to research this large archive I found there was a great deal to interest me, so much so that I could not make my mine up which particular place to start, so I decided to work within the Tudor period and maybe do more than one piece.

Firstly I looked at the reasons for the Wittewronge family being in Hertfordshire.

My inspiration came from the story by Sir John Wittewronge written in 1664 telling of the history of the family. He describes how in 1564 his grandfather Jacob as a protestant fled from the persecution inflicted on their faith by the Inquisition conducted in the name of Phillip 2nd of Spain (the ruler of that part of Europe at the time) and the Catholic Church. He fled with is family to Queen Elizabeth the Firsts England and safety.

Thinking of the punishment they were escaping from I decided to use the ultimate threat that of being put to death by burning at the stake.

For this piece entitled ‘Flames’ I have worked with a range of brightly coloured red, orange and yellow silk threads to make a large bowl. Then a series of silk papers which I have cut into a selection of flame shape pieces to which I have machine embroidered with metallic thread then added a few coloured glass beads. When finished I will stitch these on to the silk bowl.

To emphasize the fact that the family were protestant and the persecution they avoided, I will make and place into the centre of the bowl a small book representing a Lutheran Bible. Made in the style of that period and embellished with a Lutheran cross.

The Second thing that interested me in the archives was a document dated again to the Tudor period, that of a description of a series of voyages undertaken by George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, Queen Elizabeth 1st’s champion, spirited courtier and unlucky gambler, and ill fated Privateer.

To improve his bad fortune and dwindling funds he undertook as series of voyages in his large 600 ton fighting ship the Malice Scourge in the 1590s, with the attempt to capture rich treasures carried aboard large Spanish and Portuguese carracks trading between Europe and the Caribbean. His luck had not changed and a series of disasters occurred. He unfortunately ended poorer than when he set off.

For this piece ‘Voyage into the unknown’ I worked with silk fibres again, this time white to represent the white sail of a galleon, making a large shallow sail shaped bowl, and a selection of silk papers.

After studying a selection ancient nautical sea maps, I have decided to take some of the illustrations used on the maps to warn of danger in the deep and drawn a collection of mystical sea creature, these then I have machine embroidered with black thread on to the pieces of white silk paper, I will then apply these creatures on to the bowl.