21 



TAPESTRY. 



TAPESTRY. 



other erections required at tournaments. Rich embroidery was also 

 much employed in the decorations of the horses and men who formed 

 the actors in those chivalric amusements ; and the brilliant, though 

 often grotesque devices of heraldry, which formed so important a part 

 of the display upon such occasions, afforded extensive employment to 

 the workers of tapestry and other ornamented tissues. 



The art of making tapestry, for which the Flemings had been cele- 

 brated from the 12th century, made considerable progress in Flanders 

 in the 14th century, and attained its highest perfection there hi the 

 15th. Tapestry manufactories were early established at Brussels, 

 Antwerp, Oudenarde, Lisle, Tournay, Bruges, and Valenciennes ; but 

 that of Arras was more celebrated than any other, and its productions 

 were so highly prized, that the name arraa became a common expres- 

 sion for the finest tapestry generally, whether made in that place or 

 elsewhere. The hangings of Arras, as well as those of other manu- 

 factories in France, were for the most part executed in wool. Hemp 

 and cotton were also used in them, but no silk or gold thread. The 

 fabrication of tapestries formed of these substances was carried on 

 chiefly at Florence and at Venice. The recollection of this difference 

 is important hi discovering where old tapestries were made. The 

 designs included not only scenes from ancient history, from the fabulous 

 stories of heroes, and from modern historical events ; but hunts, 

 fantastical animals, or the occupations peculiar to the different seasons 

 of the year ; while romantic and chivalric poems afforded a rich store 

 of subjects for illustration. The 16th century, which was an age of 

 general improvement in France, gave a new impulse to the production 

 of tapestry. Francis I. founded the manufactures of Fontainebleau, in 

 which threads of gold and silver were skilfully introduced into the 

 work. It was, we are informed, with this new impulse that the 

 practice was commenced of weaving tapestry in a single piece, instead 

 of composing it, as before, of several smaller pieces joined together. 

 This prince brought Primaticcio from Italy, and, among other works 

 of art, commissioned him to make designs for several tapestries, which 

 were woven at Fontainebleau. He also engaged Flemish workmen, 

 whom he supplied with silk, wool, and other materials, and paid 

 liberally for their labour. Henry II. established a manufacture of 

 tapestry on the premises of the Hopital de la Trinite 1 , which attained 

 its highest celebrity in the reign of Henry IV., and produced many 

 fine tapestries. Henry IV. re-established, in 1597, the manufacture of 

 tapestry at Paris, where it had been interrupted by the disorders of 

 the preceding reigns. The establishment languished, if it did not 

 become quite extinct, after the death of Henry IV. ; but when the 

 royal palaces, especially the Louvre and the Tuileries, were receiving 

 their rich decorations, in the reign of Louis XIV., his minister Col- 

 bert revived it, and from that time the celebrated royal tapestry- 

 manufactory of the Gobelins dates its origin. 



The production of tapestry at the Gobelins is said to have attained 

 the highest perfection in the time of the minister Colbert and his 

 successor M. de Louvois. Le Brun, when chief director of the esta- 

 blishment, made many designs for working after ; and M. de Louvois 

 1 tapestry to be made from some of the finest designs of Rattaelle, 

 Julio Romano, and other Italian painters. The manufacture declined 

 >- at the Revolution, but was revived under the government of 

 > on, and has ever since been carried on successfully, though not 

 ii> the same extent as formerly. In England the art was practised 

 from a very early date, the ladies of the Anglo-Saxon period being 

 especially famous for their needle, and the Saxon chroniclers having 

 frequent references to the rich hangings wrought by them. It was 

 proKably owing to the expense of such hangings, when of large size, 

 and the very long time required for then- production, that the less 

 rtable device of painting the walls of chambers was extensively 

 adoptid iii the early Norman period. 



Mentions a " tapiser," in company with a"webbe"and a 



" dyer," among his Canterbury pilgrims ; from which circumstance it 



may > I that the business was not a very uncommon one 



towards the close of the 14th century. In the lath century the use 



of tape.-itry greatly extended in England ; but then, and for long after, 



tin' principal supply appears to have been from the Continent. In the 



Kith century a kind of hanging was introduced which holds a place 



irdiate between painted walls and woven or embroidered tapestry. 



illudes to these hangings under the name of "painted 



M also the admirable description of the rich tapestry common 



in the Elizabethan period, by Spenser, in his ' Faerie Queene,' book 



nto ix. The introduction of tapestry- weaving into England is 



iy attributed to a gentleman named Sheldon, late in the reign of 



H- nry VIII., though it was known, if not commonly practised, much 



IT. James I. endeavoured to revive the manufacture of tapestry, 



which had by his time considerably declined, by encouraging and 



assisting in the formation, about 1619, of an establishment at Mortlake, 



undiT the management of Sir Francis Crane. James I. gave 2UOO/. 



'- the formation of this establishment, which appears to have 



"riginally supplied with designs from abroad, but subsequently 



artist named Francis Cleyne, or Klein, a native of Rostock, in 



tlir duchy of Mecklenburg, who was engaged for the purpose. This 



undertaking was a favourite hobby both with James and his successor, 



who regarded Cleyne so favourably that he bestowed upon him, in 



, nn annuity of lOOi. (Rymer's ' Fcedera,' vol. xviii., p. 112), which 



j'yed until the civil war. In the same year Charles I. granted 



20001. a year for ten years to Sir Francis Crane, in lieu of an annual 

 payment of lOOlM. which he had previously covenanted to pay for that 

 term, as the grant recites, " towards the furtherance, upholding, and 

 maintenance of the worke of tapestries, latelie brought into this our 

 kingdome by the said Sir Francis Crane, and now by him and his work- 

 men practised and put in use at Mortlake, in our countie of Surrey ; " 

 and of a further sum of 6000/. due to the establishment for three suits 

 of gold tapestries. (' Fcedera,' vol. xviii., p. 60.) After the death of 

 Sir Francis Crane, his brother, Sir Richard, sold the premises to the 

 king, and during the civil war they were seized as royal property. It 

 was for the use of this establishment that Charles I. purchased the 

 famous Cartoons of Raffaelle. [CARTOONS.] After the Restoration, 

 Charles II. endeavoured to revive the manufacture, and employed 

 Verrio to make designs for it, but the attempt was unsuccessful. 

 During its period of prosperity, this manufacture produced superb 

 hangings, after the designs of celebrated painters, with which the 

 palaces of Windsor Castle, Hampton Court, Whitehall, St. James's, 

 Nonsuch, Greenwich, &c., and many of the mansions of the nobility, 

 were adorned. An act of parliament was passed in 1663 to encourage 

 the linen and tapestry manufactures of England, and to restrain the 

 great importation of foreign linen and tapestry. 



In the primitive method of working tapestry with the needle, the 

 wool was usually applied to a kind of canvas, and the effect produced 

 was coarse and defective ; but some finer kinds were embroidered upon 

 a silken fabric. The process of weaving by the loom, after the manner 

 known as the haute lisie, or high warp, was practised in the tapestries 

 of Flanders (and according to Walpole and Jxibinal, in those of England 

 also), as early as the 14th and 15th centuries; the only essential 

 difference between these and the productions of modern times being 

 the comparative size of the pieces woven in the loom. The weaving of 

 tapestry, both by the haute lisse and the basse lisse, appears to be of 

 Oriental invention : the difference between the two methods may be 

 thus briefly described. In the haute lisse the loom or frame with the 

 warp-threads, is placed in a perpendicular position, and the weaver 

 works standing; while in the basse lisse the frame with the warp is 

 laid horizontally, and the weaver works in a sitting position. In weaving 

 with the basse lisse, now seldom, if ever, employed, the design to be 

 copied is laid beneath the threads of the warp, which are stretched in a 

 manner resembling that of common weaving, the pattern being sup- 

 ported by a number of transverse threads stretched beneath it. The 

 weaver, sitting before the loom, and leaning over the beam, carefully 

 separates the threads of the warp with his fingers, so that he may see 

 his pattern between them. He then takes in his other hand a kind of 

 shuttle, called a flfite, charged with silk or wool of the colour required, 

 and passes it between the threads, after separating them in the usual 

 way by means of treddles worked by the feet. [WEAVINO.] The 

 thread of woof or shoot thus inserted is finally driven close up to the 

 finished portion of the work by means of a reed or comb formed of 

 box-wood or ivory, the teeth of which are inserted between the 

 threads of the warp. In this process the face of the tapestry is down- 

 wards, so that the weaver cannot examine his work until the piece is 

 completed and removed from the loom. The haute lisse loom, which 

 is differently worked, consists of two upright side-pieces, with large 

 rollers placed horizontally between them. The threads of the warp, 

 which usually consist of twisted wool, are wound round the upper 

 roller, and the finished web is coiled round the lower one. The 

 design to be copied is placed perpendicularly behind the back or 

 wrong side of the warp, and then the principal outlines of the pattern 

 are drawn upon the front of the warp, the threads of which are 

 sufficiently open to allow the artist to see the design between them. 

 The cartoon is then removed so far back from the warp that the 

 weaver may place himself between them with his back towards the 

 former, so that he must turn round whenever he wishes to look at it. 

 Attached to the upright side pieces of the frame are contrivances for 

 separating the threads of the warp, so as to allow the.7ftt(e, or broach, 

 which carries the woof, to pass between them. Like the weaver with 

 the basse lisse, the operator works, as it were, blindfold ; but by walk- 

 rag round to the front of the loom he may see the progress of his 

 work, and may adjust any threads which have not been forced into 

 their right position by the reed or comb, with a large needle, called an 

 a pretter. The process of working with the haute lisse is 

 much slower than the other, and is, indeed, almost as slow as that of 

 working with the needle. 



It may be desirable in this place to say a few words concerning two 

 varieties of carpet and rug-work, which, though not really tapestry, 

 bear a certain resemblance to it, and are termed Patent Tapestry and 

 Wool Muaaic. 



The Patent Tapestry and Velvet-Pile Carpet, invented by Mr. 

 Alexander Whytock, of Edinburgh, was intended to supersede the 

 ordinary Brussels carpeting, and has to some extent had that effect. 

 The peculiarity of this manufacture lies in the unlimited number of 

 shades and colours that can be introduced ; insomuch that the most 

 elaborately-coloured designs, with flowers and scrolls, can be executed. 

 There is also a very considerable saving of worsted, as compared with 

 the older processes. The appearance is nearly similar to that of 

 Brussels carpet, but the manufacture is more simple, each thread being 

 coloured separately, at spaces, with the various shades as they follow 

 each other in the design. The means by which this process is accom- 



