Art Institute of Chicago

Skirt Panel for a Woman's Sack Gown

Designed by Anna Maria Garthwaite (English, 1690–1763)

Date

Design March 1, 1749

Medium

Silk, plain weave foundation with supplementary patterning warps and supplementary brocading wefts

Culture

England

Department

Textiles

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Anna Maria Garthwaite is one of only a handful of 18th-century textile designers whose names we know today. Her carefully annotated drawings (in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London) reveal her thorough understanding of European weaving technology. Her naturalistic and delicate floral fabrics have come to epitomize English taste of the mid-18th century. Evidence of this fabric’s use for a skirt can be seen at the top of the panel, where it was gathered into a seam at the waistline.

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