This multicolored screen is a sampler of embroidery stitches in a style called “Berlin Wool Work.” In approximately 1805, a trader from Berlin started to sell hand-colored drawings printed on mesh, in which each square on the grid corresponded to a space on the textile to be filled in with stitches of different colors. It was an instant success, and the embroidery technique soon reached the whole of Europe, becoming very popular both for the versatility of its patterns and the low cost of the production of images, which were mostly used for interior decoration and garments. The exhibited work is likely to have been executed by a girl who was learning and practicing the technique. In the center of the canvas we see her initials, “VS,” surrounded by flowers. The variety of colors is noteworthy. It is the result of the discovery of synthetic dyeing using aniline in 1820, a process that was refined by scientists from different countries throughout the first half of the nineteenth century. As well as the colors and near three-dimensional patterns created by juxtaposition, we can see the use of different embroidery stitches. The naturalist style of the flowers in the middle of the canvas and the vibrant palette of geometric motifs are typical of the time.

— Mariana Leme, mestranda em teoria e história da arte, ECA-USP, e integrante da equipe de curadoria, MASP, 2019

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