Bandera

 The 2nd Royal Madame Maria Giovanna Battista of Savoy Nemours (1644-1724) ascended to the throne of the Savoy court as regent, waiting for her son, the future Vittorio Amedeo II (1666-1732), to reach a suitable age to succeed his father, Carlo Emanuele II (1634-1675), who died prematurely. 

At that time, when new sovereign ascended the throne, court rules dictated that the nobles of the court host them, in order to present themselves and demonstrate the wealth and power of their own house. For the occasion, they were required to restore their homes and renew their textile furnishings: bedspreads, canopies, sofas, armchairs, chairs, pelmets, chairs, fireplace screens, and tapestries. 

During the reign of Charles Emmanuel II, wars between religious factions and an epidemic of plague had significantly weakened the finances of the nobles, who found it difficult to purchase the textile materials in vogue at the time: damask, fine silks and velvets, silk, gold, and silver threads. 

Someone, who remains anonymous, came up with the idea of replacing the fine fabrics with a raw cotton canvas, inexpensive and very sturdy, therefore suitable for furnishing: Bandera fabric. 

Until then, it had been used only for lining military armour, orphans' uniforms, and the less noble parts of clothing, such as the inside of pockets and the backs of collars. To decorate it, the wools used for embroidered tapestries were chosen, also less expensive than the yarns fashionable at the time and more suited to that type of fabric: the wools came from the French city of Aubusson, famous for producing a vast array of polychrome wools for tapestries and carpets, near enough to Piedmont. To compensate for the limited materials and ensure the pieces were worthy of the homes in which they would be placed, sumptuous and elaborate designs were created, made even more choreographic by the use of multi-colored wools. 

The earliest Bandera embroidery was executed entirely (flowers, leaves, scrolls) with concentric rows of chain stitch, using multiple shades of the same color. A few knot stitches were embroidered to represent flower pistils or to decorate the scrolls. The so-called "Racconigi Net" also appeared, a weave of perpendicular stem stitch lines, embellished with daisy stitches at each intersection to represent small flowers. In Bandera embroidery, there were no empty spaces, so the Racconigi Net was used to fill the interior areas of corner scrolls or cartouches. The term "Net" and its embroidered representation were inspired by the wrought iron gates found in many ancient Piedmont homes. 

The colors of the first Bandera were exclusively shades of Savoy Blue (a bit dusty, slightly grayish) and Golden Yellow. 

Note the concentric arrangement of the colors within the scrolls: dark on the outside and gradually lighter colors until reaching the center of the motif. 

Toward the end of the 17th century, Bandera embroidery underwent its first evolution, making it even more dramatic and sumptuous: the chain stitch was replaced with the painter's stitch in floral subjects, allowing embroiderers to achieve a less static and massive, but more elegant and refined, effect. 

They also began to draw on the rich palette of tapestry wools, and alongside the two original shades, they added shades of powder pink and salmon pink, burgundy, and various shades of green. 

Large bouquets and soft garlands of multi-coloured flowers thus flourished on the Bandera canvas. The subjects were primarily peonies and tulips. The choice of peonies and tulips was dictated by the success these two flowers, originally from the East, enjoyed in Europe starting in the 16th century: the price of their bulbs soared, they were considered a financial investment, worthy of being sold at the most important European auctions. The beauty and variety of these two flowers, their preciousness, and their fame made them highly sought-after subjects by artists of the time. 

As for the scrolls, the use of chain stitch was maintained, but the shading was no longer executed in concentric circles but in a gradual progression from the outside to the inside (generally the darkest colour on the outer line and the lightest on the inner curve). 

Decorative subjects typical of the Baroque architectural style were also added, such as shells, which, in embroidered representations, could be executed in either chain stitch or painter's stitch. 

Between the end of the 17th century and the early 18th century, Bandera Embroidery, already rich in flowers, leaves, scrolls, shells, bouquets, and garlands, saw the appearance of fruits, cornucopias, ribbons, and bows. The presence of embroidered fruits gave the garments on which they were embroidered a special touch. 

Bandera embroidery reached its peak in the 18th century, when the technique was enriched with flowers, fruits, birds, butterflies, characters, and mythological scenes executed in painter's stitch (long and short stitch), while the scrolls and ribbons framing the subjects continued to be worked in close rows of chain stitch or stem stitch. 

It was precisely during the 18th century that most of the Bandera embroidery still found today in Piedmont castles, mansions, and museums was embroidered. 

The embroiderers indulged in increasingly filling and covering the canvas in their hands, creating extremely rich and opulent garments that, seen today,

may seem exaggerated but perfectly reflect the taste of the Savoy nobles of the time and their desire for ostentation. 

The subjects became more complex: flowers and fruits took on more elaborate shapes, while scrolls and ribbons, accompanied by yards of trimmings, created complicated and convoluted weaves and wrappings. 

After its golden age, during which it was the preferred textile decoration of the Savoy nobles, Bandera embroidery lost some of its reputation as an elite embroidery. Its use reached lower social classes, and even among middle-class families, the custom of giving marriageable girls a Bandera bedspread as a dowry for their wedding became widespread. 

Between the 19th and 20th centuries and until the 1930s (with an interruption due to the First World War), several noblewomen (Countess Sofia di Bricherasio, Marchioness Incisa della Rocchetta, and Countess Calvi di Bergolo, just to name the most notable) founded schools and workshops with the aim of continuing the tradition of this technique. Bandera embroidery was also present at several Universal Expositions held during those years. 

The Second World War struck Italy like a boulder, halting all kinds of activities, including embroidery workshops. 

In the post-war period, some embroiderers, heirs of the workshops from the beginning of the century, resumed working independently and, starting late in the 1980s and beginning of 1990s, new Bandera embroidery schools were founded, following the example of the one founded by Countess Consolata Beraudo di Pralormo. Some of them are still active.