Embroidered image 'Madonna in the Studio Door'

• silk, wool, glass and metal beads;
  cross-stitch and petit point embroidery;
  silver-plated frame on a chalk base and lustred gold paint,
  1840-1850; height: 96.5 cm

'Madonna in the Studio Door' and other large-format embroideries are among the original features of the Granitz hunting lodge. Princess Luise of Putbus fashioned the embroideries herself in the ladies' salon. It is named the 'embroidered room' in descriptions and images, placing a particular emphasis on the princess's needlework. The princess used embroidery templates to help in the laborious completion of her pieces. They reproduced famous paintings by Old Masters like Tizian or contemporary artists from the 19th century. In this case the embroidery is based on a painting by Eduard Karl Steinbrück (1832). Literary narratives and ballads also found their way into embroideries. Hence, needlework in the ladies' salon was viewed as proof of the embroiderer's education and appreciation of art. In total, 26 embroidered images formed a tapestry on the walls beneath the ceiling in the ladies' salon, remaining there until 1945. The embroideries disappeared without a trace when the Putbus family was expropriated. Discovered in the fabrics room of the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg (SPSG), restored and then returned to the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in 2012, the nine beautifully colourful originals are today exhibited once again in the Granitz hunting lodge.