INDUSTRIES 



Sir Francis Crane.* Van Dyck proposed also 

 to design for the great hall of Whitehall car- 

 toons representing the Election of the King, 

 the Institution of the Order of the Garter, 

 the Procession of Knights, and other cere- 

 monies, which designs he intended to be 

 double the size of the Acts of the Apostles. 

 But the sum, 300,000 crowns, which he 

 demanded for the designs alone was prohibi- 

 tive.* The cartoons of the borders of the 

 Acts of the Apostles, ' marvels of imagination 

 and elegance,' were his designs.' 



The number of hangings which seem to 

 have been produced at Mortlake during the 

 first twenty-five years or so of the existence 

 of the manufactory is surprising. Some idea 

 of the nature of the productions can be 

 formed from the titles of the subjects already 

 mentioned in this account. The aim of the 

 manufactory seems to have been two-fold ; 

 on the one hand to reproduce old classical 

 suites such as the Acts of the Apostles and 

 the History of Vulcan, and on the other to 

 interpret new designs, such as the whole 

 length portraits of James I. and Charles I., 

 their Queens, and the King of Denmark, 

 with medallions of the royal children in the 

 borders, which appeared in the beautiful 

 hangings which were formerly at Lord 

 Orford's seat at Houghton.* Among the 

 goods of Charles I. which were sold after his 

 execution were many suites of Mortlake 

 tapestry, and a great number of them went 

 to France. Cardinal Mazarin acquired many 

 of them which are noted in the inventory of 

 his furniture under the title of ' English 

 Manufacture.' Amongst others he had three 

 pieces of the suite of the History of Vulcan 

 and the Five Senses in wool and silk, with 

 grotesques on a blue background, each piece 

 having in the centre a medallion representing 

 one of the senses, surrounded by a gold 

 coloured border containing terminals, medal- 

 lions, cartouches, and shells, and at the top in 

 the middle of the border the arms of Eng- 

 land. This tapestry was 2f ells high and 18 

 long. He had also a series of six pieces 

 representing the Twelve Months, two in each 

 piece, with a border of festoons, cartouches, 

 amorini, and medallions on a gold and brown 

 background. The cipher of the King of 

 England was in the centre of the lowrer 

 border.^ Suites of the Acts of the Apostles 



1 Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surrey, iii. 303. 



2 Mlintz, op. cit. 299, quoting Bellori, Fife 

 del Pittori Scultori ed Architetti moderni (ed. 1821), 

 i. 268. 



3 MUntz, ibid. 



* MUntz, op. cit. 298, 303. 

 » Ibid. 302, 303. 



and of the History of Vulcan are still pre- 

 served in Paris, and were until recently in 

 the National Gardemeuble. A copy of the 

 Five Senses formerly at Oatlands was sold in 

 1649 f"?"" jC^yo. John Williams, Archbishop 

 of York, paid Sir Francis Crane ^^2,500 for 

 the suite of the Four Seasons.* 



During the Commonwealth the tapestry 

 house and its belongings were taken posses- 

 sion of by the government as part of the 

 property of the late king and some attempts 

 were made to keep the works going. A sur- 

 vey of the manufactory was taken by order 

 of Parliament in 1651. The tapestry house 

 is described as containing one large room, 82 

 feet by 20 feet, with twelve looms ; another 

 room about half as long with six looms, and 

 a great room called the limning-room, the 

 house being valued at ;^50 yearly. Cleyne 

 the painter occupied another house which was 

 valued at ^^g yearly.' 



On 26 May 1657 the Council of State 

 ordered on the petition of Phil Hallenberch 

 and the tapestry workmen of Mortlake that 

 the Story of Abraham or the Triumphs of 

 Cassar or both should be executed, Mr. Cleyne 

 being spoken to thereon, provided that the 

 charge did not exceed ;^i50. The design 

 was only to be used as Cromwell should ap- 

 point.® 



On the Restoration an attempt was made 

 to revive the old glories of the manufacture. 

 The low price just stated for a suite of hang- 

 ings compared with the high prices that had 

 obtained prior to the Commonwealth period 

 bears out Sir Sackville Crow's contention 

 that the works had decayed owing to there 

 being no purchasers of the richer sort of tap- 

 estries, while the commoner sorts, he added, 

 were imported from France and the Low 

 Countries. He put forward a plan for re- 

 storing the trade, and on 12 October 1661 

 his petition was referred to the Council for 

 Trade.' The Council reported in favour of 

 the proposal to revive the manufacture, and 

 recommended that it should be vested first in 

 a company under the king's control, but in 

 due time should be thrown open to all who 

 chose to join the company. The import of 

 foreign tapestry should be discouraged by the 

 imposition of heavy duties.*" Accordingly on 

 1 8 February 1 66 1 -2 the Solicitor-General was 

 directed to prepare a Bill for Parliament em- 

 powering the king to settle the trade as a 

 corporation in the hands of such persons and 



= Manning and Bray, Hist, of Surrey, iii. 302. 

 ' Aug. Off. Pari. Surv. Surr. 37. 

 8 S.P. Interr. I. 77, pp. 825-30. 

 » S.P. Col. East Indies, xiv. 66. 

 "> Ibid. 67. 



357 



