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Williams, Wrexham 1842-52, St Fagans

Below left: Heart pincushion Opposite: Unknown, Crimean Quilt,

The same could be said of another, similarly ambitious but rather less well-known example of Victorian fabric art: the pieced and embroidered quilt made by Herbert Bellamy and Charlotte Alice Springall of Great Yarmouth during their year-long engagement in 1890–1. This is a vivid document relating to their domestic life, a record of their intimacy on the eve of marriage, an expression of romantic attachment made material through thread. Like Williams’ coverlet it refers to religion and tradition, including in this case an image of a communion cup and the musical score for ‘Auld Lang Syne’. In that regard it might be considered conventionally ‘folkish’. But the quilt as a whole is a remarkable compendium of motifs, taking in everyday objects and, in the popular cartoon character of Ally Sloper featured in the centrally located panel, modern-day mass media. It thus also registers the proliferation of images and domestic commodities in the Victorian era.

The Bellamy quilt was given to Norfolk Museums by their daughter as recently as 1980. Re-presented in the opening space of the British Folk Art exhibition at Tate Britain there is the opportunity to see this extraordinary creation in the context of a national art gallery. We hope that this metropolitan setting will shine a spotlight on such extraordinary creations, small or large, imposing or modest, and so often utilising fabrics in innovative and imaginative ways. The Tate Britain exhibition will inevitably heighten their artistic interest but should also offer a rich, complex, even complicated sense of folk art and its histories. Martin Myrone British Folk Art, Until 31 August 2014, Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG, T: +44 (0)20 7887 8888, www.tate.org.uk tog raphy

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