There is a little more to it but ok
Thank you for the retweet @TheMERL! And a fun fact for people who don't know - we literally have a to-scale replica of the tapestry in its enormity, made by a Victorian embroidery group using the exact same techniques and materials as the original.
The one thing our replica doesn't have ....is penises. They were Victorians and they did their best at covering them up. But you're welcome to visit and use your imagination. Ish.
An update:
50 minutes after writing these tweets, before us appeared a Reading Museum curator, like a vision, a ghost aglow with curiosity.
Join us on a journey back through time. For there is more to these penises than meets the eye.
[a Bayeux thread/a Bayeux tapestry]
50 minutes after writing these tweets, before us appeared a Reading Museum curator, like a vision, a ghost aglow with curiosity.
Join us on a journey back through time. For there is more to these penises than meets the eye.
[a Bayeux thread/a Bayeux tapestry]
Firstly: the implication of our earlier posts was that those who decided to part with the particulars of the original Tapestry (to miss out the members, to discard the ….devices) were the embroiders themselves: the women of the Leek Embroidery Society, 1885.
This requires urgent clarification.
To begin with: you can only replicate what you can actually see.
It might be a moot point, but the Leek embroiderers didn’t have the original tapestry to hand when they followed the threads of their hearts so deeply into it, one stitch at a time.
It might be a moot point, but the Leek embroiderers didn’t have the original tapestry to hand when they followed the threads of their hearts so deeply into it, one stitch at a time.
Instead, they based their handiwork on a series of photographs – lots of them, in fact – which had been taken, collected, coloured in, and ‘cleaned-up’ by the male staff of the South Kensington Museum – which is the @V_and_A today.
As part of the process of that 'clean-up', the men of South Ken took it upon themselves to add trousers to the half-naked figures, in a generous yet prudish act. A strange rendition of 'the Richard Beale Manoeuvre'.
(@TheMERL)
(@TheMERL)
Over the course of a year, the Leek embroiders worked industriously and brilliantly to these (unknowingly) amended photographs.
They didn't call the shots. They simply embroidered those that had already been taken - shots of photographs, quietly edited.
They didn't call the shots. They simply embroidered those that had already been taken - shots of photographs, quietly edited.
Our original tweets also suggested that all of the genitalia on the tapestry had been removed.
....and the eyes of our mysterious curator widened, like a cursed sunrise from the satanic hills of a morning's calamities.
Because this, too, requires attention.
....and the eyes of our mysterious curator widened, like a cursed sunrise from the satanic hills of a morning's calamities.
Because this, too, requires attention.
We're talking horses.
(as in, about horses. we are not talking horses. we are a museum. but as said in our earlier posts, the imagination is important and wondrous, and we encourage you to follow it into battle with rigour and great spirit)
🐴 The horses of the original Bayeux Tapestry were well-endowed with enormous ....loyalties.
The most loyal horse, by some measure, was William the Conqueror’s.
ᴾˡᵉᵃˢᵉ ᵈᵒⁿ’ᵗ ᵃˢᵏ ᵘˢ ʰᵒʷ ʷᵉ ᵏⁿᵒʷ ᵗʰᶦˢ
The most loyal horse, by some measure, was William the Conqueror’s.
ᴾˡᵉᵃˢᵉ ᵈᵒⁿ’ᵗ ᵃˢᵏ ᵘˢ ʰᵒʷ ʷᵉ ᵏⁿᵒʷ ᵗʰᶦˢ
As with the gents of the tapestry, these equine members weren't welcome in South Ken's club. And they too were quietly removed (quite literally) from the picture.
Disappointingly, they didn't receive trousers.
(Photo credit: BuzzFeed)
Disappointingly, they didn't receive trousers.
(Photo credit: BuzzFeed)
However: not all were spotted.
Some (ironically, the smallest ones) survived the brutal editorial process, enduring in threads of secrecy.
And rest assured: within the hallowed walls of the Leek Embroidery Society, their strict confidence was kept.
Some (ironically, the smallest ones) survived the brutal editorial process, enduring in threads of secrecy.
And rest assured: within the hallowed walls of the Leek Embroidery Society, their strict confidence was kept.
For example: there's been no horsing around with these horses.
It’s a real privilege for all of us at the museum to keep and treasure this masterful, inspiring object in our collection.
It's enormous yet precious, an object made by (many) hand(s), combining master craftsmanship with extreme delicateness and care.
It's enormous yet precious, an object made by (many) hand(s), combining master craftsmanship with extreme delicateness and care.
Today, however, it feels like a particular privilege for this social media manager to have spent an hour following in the footsteps of the Leek embroiders of over a century ago.
But an important caveat:
Where one made penises from thread, the other made a thread from penises.
[end]
Where one made penises from thread, the other made a thread from penises.
[end]
🥳 it's official: after reaching 1,000, this tweet now has more likes than the average number of people waiting in the lunch queue at Broad Street Mall's Taco Bell
We would like to nominate these horses
