Napoleon Bonaparte thumbnail 1
Napoleon Bonaparte thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
British Galleries, Room 120, The Wolfson Galleries

Napoleon Bonaparte

Needlework
1825 (embroidered)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Object Type
The technique of this portrait is known as needlepainting, a type of embroidery, in which oils or other paintings were faithfully copied, with the brush strokes rendered by stitches worked in crewel wool. Needlepainting was practised in the second half of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Mary Linwood (1756-1845) was the most renowned practitioner, through the exhibitions of her work held in London.

People & Places
Mary Linwood lived in Leicester, helping her mother to run, and eventually taking over, a boarding school for young ladies. In 1776 she exhibited needlework pictures at the Society of Artists in London. In 1787 she was introduced to Queen Charlotte (1744-1818), and this encouraged her to exhibit some of her pictures at the Pantheon, Oxford Street. In 1798 she opened an exhibition at the Hanover Square Concert Rooms in London, which toured to Scotland and Ireland. The collection, increased to 64 pieces, returned to London to be shown at Mary Linwood's own gallery in Leicester Square, where it remained on display until Linwood's death in 1845. Contemporary accounts suggest the gallery's presentation was very elaborate, the main hall hung with 'scarlet cloth, satin and silver'. The copy of a painting Lady Jane Grey Visited by the Abbot and Keeper of the Throne at Night was shown in a prison cell at the end of a dark passage. (Lady Jane Grey, the 'nine days Queen', was executed by Mary I for treason in 1554.) This portrait of Napoleon was displayed in the Leicester Square Gallery as number 52, in the 'Gothic Room'.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleNapoleon Bonaparte (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Woollen canvas, embroidered in wool
Brief description
Needlework portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte, embroidered in London by Mary Linwood, 1825
Physical description
Embroidered portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte
Dimensions
  • Height: 78.3cm
  • Width: 71.2cm
Dimensions checked: Measured; 09/12/1999 by LM
Gallery label
British Galleries: With encouragement from Queen Charlotte, Mary Linwood exhibited in London and later on tour in Scotland and Ireland. In 1803 she met Napoleon and this image is based on sketches made at that time.(27/03/2003)
Credit line
Bequeathed by Ellen Markland
Object history
Embroidered in London by Mary Linwood (born in Birmingham, 1756, died in Leicester, 1845)
Subjects depicted
Summary
Object Type
The technique of this portrait is known as needlepainting, a type of embroidery, in which oils or other paintings were faithfully copied, with the brush strokes rendered by stitches worked in crewel wool. Needlepainting was practised in the second half of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Mary Linwood (1756-1845) was the most renowned practitioner, through the exhibitions of her work held in London.

People & Places
Mary Linwood lived in Leicester, helping her mother to run, and eventually taking over, a boarding school for young ladies. In 1776 she exhibited needlework pictures at the Society of Artists in London. In 1787 she was introduced to Queen Charlotte (1744-1818), and this encouraged her to exhibit some of her pictures at the Pantheon, Oxford Street. In 1798 she opened an exhibition at the Hanover Square Concert Rooms in London, which toured to Scotland and Ireland. The collection, increased to 64 pieces, returned to London to be shown at Mary Linwood's own gallery in Leicester Square, where it remained on display until Linwood's death in 1845. Contemporary accounts suggest the gallery's presentation was very elaborate, the main hall hung with 'scarlet cloth, satin and silver'. The copy of a painting Lady Jane Grey Visited by the Abbot and Keeper of the Throne at Night was shown in a prison cell at the end of a dark passage. (Lady Jane Grey, the 'nine days Queen', was executed by Mary I for treason in 1554.) This portrait of Napoleon was displayed in the Leicester Square Gallery as number 52, in the 'Gothic Room'.
Collection
Accession number
1438-1874

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Record createdMarch 27, 2003
Record URL
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