Richelieu Embroidery

If you are familiar with the character of D’Artagnan and his famous phrase “All for one and one for all,” the name Richelieu will sound familiar: the powerful cardinal and prime minister of King Louis XIII of France, whom Alexandre Dumas, the author of The Three Musketeers, made the evil enemy of his protagonists.  The novel, which was a huge success when it was published chapter by chapter in a French newspaper in 1844, helped spread the legend.

As sometimes happens throughout the history of humankind, certain characters have been mistreated.  Accused of being authoritarian, ambitious, and a womanizer, Armand-Jean du Plessis (1585-1642), the Cardinal Richelieu aroused hatred during his life as a statesman. Even a century after his death, he was taken from his tomb by French revolutionaries and beheaded. Far from his reputation as a wicked man, he was a great protector of the arts, a skilled politician, and a tireless worker, despite the terrible headaches that afflicted him. He reformed and enlarged the Sorbonne University, where he studied and created the Académie Française to promote the French language and literary activity. He consolidated the State’s power and propelled France as a power in Europe, paving the way for one of its most glorious periods: the reign of the Sun King, Louis XIV.

One may wonder why a delicate type of embroidery is named after a 17th-century minister of France. It is said that during his period, it was imported from Italy to adorn the chic people of the French court. It seems unlikely that the cardinal would have had much time available to deal with fashion matters between wars and peace treaties and the many court intrigues between favorites and the monarch’s mother and brother. He cared about good manners, though, for it is said that he invented the round-tipped knife because he was horrified that diners would prick food and put it in their mouths or pick their teeth with the pointed knife. The truth is that the “Richelieu style” is applied not only to ornaments for clothing but to furniture, locksmith (!) elements, shoes, and lots of cooking recipes.

And of course, to Richelieu embroidery, which is one of the most elaborate methods of needle art, and of which we have a beautiful sample in Snowdrop. Embroidery consists of embellishing a piece of fabric with a flat or embossed decoration using needles and various types of colored or neutral threads and sometimes with added elements such as sequins, pearls, and even precious stones. Also called “white embroidery,” it is usually done on white or beige fabric -linen or cotton-, with a design already drawn. The figures are scalloped (trimmed) and joined together by loops (flanges) that act as a cord to link one drawing to another; then, the fabric is cut to make the openwork, which is reinforced with small embroidered braids. From the embroiders’ hands are born original works of art, consider unique pieces due above all to the work’s quality and to the time spent in its realization.

Few traces remain of this manual labor of those times. However, portraits of important people display it on collars, vests, and bodices for ladies. Sometime later, it became fashionable among distinguished people to have clothes embroidered in this way. Every bride of a good family had to contribute with sheets, tablecloths and napkins, and even elegant crib sets as part of her dowry. Nowadays, it is not easy to find this type of work made by hand. As everything is simplified, machines can make traditional suits, rugs, or curtains with laser-cut openwork.