Admire the nifty needlework of a President's girl

A rich vein of inspiring stories runs through the Cotswold Art and Antique Dealers’ Association (CADA) autumn exhibition trail. Witney Antiques have called their show Friends: A Common Thread but the contents are far from ‘common’. Their exhibition tells the story of the Society of Friends otherwise known as The Quakers. The Quakers influence on social reform and new ideas in education and business is remarkable, especially considering their small population in global terms. Quakers have been, and still are, modest but socially active people, and their story is revealed in a typically unostentatious manner. Their history is embroidered, quite literally. This is Witney Antiques16th annual needlework exhibition, and anyone who has been before knows to expect work of quality.

This year is exceptional even by their high standards. Carol Humphrey is honorary keeper of textiles at the Fitzwilliam Museum, in Cambridge. She is acknowledged as a world authority on samplers, has researched Quaker education and has written this year’s catalogue — all 90 pages of it. Joy and Stephen Jarrett told me about some of the outstanding exhibits, which include samplers from the Quaker schools of Ackworth, York, Croydon, Milverton and Mountmellick in Ireland, as well as some with an American connection.

"One rare and unique item is a pinball dated 1796, worked by Mary Jefferson, daughter of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the US. Another is a small terrestial globe made of ivory silk and embroidered with the continents and lines of longitude. This would not only teach sewing skills and geography but would bring to life the history of the immigrant American communities.

"While flat map samplers were made across Europe and America these extremely rare globes were unique to Westtown School, Chester County, US. Teachers from both English and American Quaker schools travelled backwards and forwards across the Atlantic exchanging ideas and even teaching posts. Pupils from as far afield as Russia, Philadelphia, Guernsey, Ireland and Australia are recorded in the list of Ackworth Scholars 1779 – 1879."

So for anyone interested in historic textiles, this is one not to miss.

The Thames meanders through the history of our region. Its journey from Gloucestershire to the sea touched the lives of rich and poor in its wake. In Manfred Schotten’s exhibition, Still Waters Run Deep, the Thames is a source of pleasure, rowing, fishing and lock keeping. The hand coloured lithograph of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat race was published in 1850 by S. Lipschitz. What could be more ‘classical’, compared even to this timeless view, than Scottish artist Henry Raeburn (1756-1823) on his Grand Tour sketching the work of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel?

The Titian Gallery, in Stow-on-the-Wold, has based its exhibition on Henry’s Journey to Italy. What is surprising was the artist’s background. Raeburn was no young aristocrat but the orphaned son of a manufacturer who, supported by his older brother, received an education and was, aged 15, apprenticed to a goldsmith. His painting skills were self taught but he was soon producing fine miniature portraits to the admiration of his employer. He introduced his young apprentice to David Martin, a leading portrait painter and his career took wing.

Ilona Johnson-Gibbs, of the Titian Gallery and Chairman of CADA, says: "We are extremely fortunate to have acquired a number of Raeburn drawings inspired by his journey to Italy. They consist of beautiful sketches of famous figures and painters from 16th and 17th centuries as well as his extraordinary drawings of the Sistine Chapel which made such an impression on him. The Titian Gallery is very proud to exhibit them for the first time."

We have an impression of the 18th and early 19th century as being class-ridden but Henry Raeburn was not alone in his rise at this time. Sir John Soane, who changed the architectural landscape of London, was born in Goring-on-Thames (that river again!) in 1753, the son of a bricklayer. In the opinion of many, including this writer, the greatest British watercolourist of all time was J. M. W Turner who was the son of a barber. John Soane was to befriend the young Turner and, despite their lowly birth, these three men had an enormous impact on our culture. I think the Quakers would attribute their success to education. We may not have had a revolution like the French and Americans at this time, but our society was changing, and the ideas of the Quakers particularly on freedom, social reform and education were influential in that change.

If you start your tour at Witney Antiques, you can pick up the CADA leaflet that details all of the exhibitions, their locations and times and hopefully weave your own stories as you wend your way around the Cotswolds.

Friends: A Common Thread, October 4-18 daily 10am-5pm. Witney Antiques, 96-100 Corn Street. www.witneyantiques.com