needlework is gobelin

We decided we needed more expertise and send a mail to some very nice lady's who gather to discuss textile and costumes and asked what they could tell us about this needlework .
They replied:
The needlework is a gobelin -embroidered with loop stitches-..
The clothing and the cane hat indicates a timeperiod of 1800-1810.
It is probably made in southern France or northern Spain.
The shrubs are acanthus leaves.
The acanthus symbolizing :life with all the ordeals that have to be overcome.
The fishes symbolizing : plenitude and happiness.
The young couple is up to something........maybe a proposal.

This answer we received from the specialists Mister H.van Kampen of the textile group of the museum who looked at the pictures.We thank him a lot for that !!!!
 Gilly could add even more information .

One of the top people from the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court looked at it (not a photo but the actual embroidery) about ten years ago and the dates she thought would agree with what is in the blog .So 1800-1810.
At Hampton Court they also said it was the fashion of that time for English ladies to work such pictures as a pass time if they were lady's of fashion.
Sometimes bought in kit form and sometimes designed by themselves.
The lady said that she had never seen this design before or so well worked.
She did see this type of thing so very often as a woman draped over an urn to commemorate someone's death. Usually she did not like such things ,but she thought this one to be so well designed and worked she would make it the exception.

It is embroidered on silk with silks in seed and satin stitch but the faces are hand painted.
So we know more about the embroidery.
And now we have to find out who made it. Waas it a familymember of the Samworths or was it made Jerome Nicholas Vlieland ´s mother or sisters.

When we know more we let you know.
So we know a lot already but also came up with new questions .
Was this needlework already in the house ?
Was it bought abroad or at an auction?
Did one of the Samworth girls brought it back from their trip abroad?
Did Jerome Nicholas Vlieland buy it when he went to France in 1856?
Was it made by Frances Elisabeths Mother?
It is from 1800-1810 or is that just the pattern?

So we will go on and trying to find out even more.