Toile imprimée pour broderie de perles (sans perles) – icône « Saint Antoine »

“St. Anthony” shows the venerable saint holding an unrolled scroll. The most restrained in colour of this series.

What the picture shows

The saint is shown nearly full length, frontally. A long white beard falls onto his chest and the hood of a monastic mantle covers his head. His dress is ochre-brown and almost monochrome, with soft shifts of shade; against it the unrolled scroll he holds in both hands stands out sharply. The halo is a gold circle with a red rim. The fill is partial: beads cover the figure, the mantle, the scroll, the halo, the chequered border and the corner fans, while the cream ground with its printed scrollwork stays exactly as printed on the canvas. The border is built from small brown and amber squares, fan rosettes fill the upper corners, and a red cartouche sits below.

What you get

• Natural artist canvas with the full-colour pattern printed on it — no chart to follow on a screen
• Colour key for Czech Preciosa beads
• Beads, needles and thread are chosen separately

Specifications

• Size of the finished work: 170×230 mm (6.7×9.06 in)
• Beads needed: approx. 4,418
• Bead colours: 14
• Base: natural artist canvas

A vertical piece and the lightest in bead count in this batch. The calm brown range makes it a good choice for a first icon pattern. The transitions within the brown range matter most here — they are what give the mantle its form.