A Woman's Work Is Never Done...

Be warned, there may be a number of posts here about the Bayeux Tapestry this summer! Some important facts

• It is not a tapestry [woven] but rather an embroidery [stitched]
• Although this 70 metre masterpiece lives in Bayeux, France, it was probably stitched by a team of women in Kent, England. Probably commissioned by Bishop Odo, half brother of William The Conqueror, who was Earl of Kent, and Regent in England when WtC was away
• It is a a wonderful example of the style of embroidery known as Opus Anglicanum [English Work]
• In 1872, a photographer from "South Kensington Museum" [now called the V&A ] travelled to France to photograph the work. Joseph Cundall's photographs were coloured by hand by a team of men back in London. These men also 'tidied up' the pictures, painting over things which may offend Victorian ladies - any exposed male parts on horses or soldiers - including adding underpants to any naked men
• There are 620 men, 120 horses/mules, 55 dogs, 37 ships, many birds and animals - and six women! The good ladies who worked the piece do not have their names recorded

A piece of work this significant must have been copied, surely? Well yes. A woman called Elizabeth Wardle, whose husband was a silk dyer in Leek, Staffordshire decided we needed a copy here in England. She went to France and made drawings, she borrowed the Museum photographs, and amassed a team of 35 women to recreate the Tapestry. 

They faithfully reproduced the stitching [including the Victorian Underpants] and each woman stitched her name on the piece. It travelled round the country, and is now in the possession of Reading Museum.

Six copies of the Museum photos were printed and coloured, and made into scrolls in the 1870s.One ended up in the possession of Charlie Watts, the Rolling Stones drummer. [How? Why?] After his death, the Bayeux Museum bought it at auction for £16,000. It will be going on display sometime next year...

A man in Norfolk carved a half size replica, in wood, in memory of his late son. Jason finished his project in 2014.[video here]

Finally, here is Mia Hannson, a Swedish woman, living in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. She has been working on a full size replica since 13th July 2016 - and hopes to have it finished by 2027 [at which point, the British Museum will have an empty custom built Tapestry case because the original will have gone back to France] Watch her video here or check out her interesting website

Apart from Mr Cundall and Mr Welch, the original and the reproductions have all been made by women, and these were not speedy projects. The Norwich Friends Tapestry, which is in many respects a sequel to the original story, was seven years in the making [watch that story here]
I am in awe of their commitment to the task, like that virtuous woman in Proverbs 31:13, they "Seek wool and linen and work with eager hands"