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Quilts: The Fabric of War 1760–1900

Appliqué and Geometric Masterpieces Made from Military Fabrics

Annette Gero

Description

What extraordinary history these quilts tell us: from Mozart, at the age of eight playing the piano for George III, to a quilt copied from the altarpiece of Luther's church in Wittenberg, to the history of the release of Venice from Austria to become part of Italy.

What binds all these patchworks together is they were made by a technique called intarsia (which is like marquetry in wood). They are made out of a broadcloth, a heavy woollen cloth always used for military uniforms in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The fabric does not exist today. Each story quilt, some showing scenes quite often of everyday life, involves some piece of military history.