Patience and the seven Christian virtues

England

Patience and the seven Christian virtues
c 1595
wool, silk, glass beads, metal threads on linen canvas
Currently on display, Gallery 8
Place made
England
Medium
wool, silk, glass beads, metal threads on linen canvas
Dimensions
191.0 x 78.0 cm
Credit line
South Australian Government Grant 1971
Accession number
711A2
Media category
Textiles
Collection area
International decorative arts and design

  • WALL LABEL: Patience and the seven Christian virtues, c.1595

     

    Depictions of ‘the virtues’ were popular in sixteenth-century printmaking and are indicative of the rise in importance of humanist philosophy during the Renaissance. While a little-known subject in English embroidery at the time, this particular example, it is believed, might refer directly to the virtues of the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I, given the inclusion of Tudor and eglantine roses, the latter a recognised symbol of the Queen.

     

    Tansy Curtin, Curator of International Art Pre-1980

  • The grand dimensions, high quality and overt moral messaging of this Elizabethan embroidery set it apart from the everyday embroidery of the period, suggesting that it may have been made to be hung in a private chapel. Embodying the four cardinal virtues – prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance – and the three theological virtues – faith, hope and charity – this embroidery seeks to promote a moral lesson. At the centre is Patience with the Latin inscription ‘Constant Patience is strong to overcome everything, there in this picture  we have painted her in the middle of the virtues, 1595’.

    Constructed in wool using tent and cross stitch, with finer details in silk and highlights in gold and silver thread, the panel is replete with Elizabethan symbolism. In the corners are the red rose of the House of Lancaster and the white rose of the House of York – united by Henry VII into what we now know as the Tudor rose. The five-petal white flower represents the eglantine or sweet briar rose (Rosa eglanteria), the flower adopted by Elizabeth I as her personal emblem and symbolic of both her royalty and chastity.


    Tansy Curtin, Curator of International Art Pre-1980

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