Victoria Crowe: Large Tree Group

Victoria Crowe’s celebrated painting, Large Tree Group (1975), was chosen by Dovecot to be woven into a large tapestry as part of their centenary celebrations in 2012. Dovecot had previously collaborated with Victoria Crowe in 2007 on the Two Views tapestry, which was commissioned by the Duke of Buccleuch. The Large Tree Group tapestry was completed in 2013 after hundreds of hours of careful work by Dovecot’s Master Weavers.

Using only un-dyed wool sourced from around the country, the tapestry was presented at the heart of the Fleece to Fibre: the making of The Large Tree Group Tapestry exhibition. Some 70 producers across Great Britain, from small-scale crofters to large estates, provided wool from diverse sheep breeds then spun by a range of specialists – again from individual spinners and small groups to commercial operations on a semi-industrial scale.

Since it’s unveiling in Edinburgh in August 2013, Large Tree Group was acquired and gifted to National Museums Scotland, where it is on display in Hawthorndon Court.