142 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



April, 1 9 10 



The Gobelin Tapestry Works 



By Frank Brown 



jAPESTRY weaving has been an active in- 

 dustry in the region of Paris from very 

 early times. Francis I. established the 

 first royal tapestry establishment at the 

 Chateau of Fontainebleau, in 1530; his 

 predecessors had obtained their tapestries 

 from private works. This factory turned 

 out some remarkable work, but lasted for only thirty years. 

 In 1550 Henri II. founded the Trinite factory at Paris, 

 and this continued to flourish down to 1635. Henri IV. 

 decided to found an important tapestry establishment in 

 the city and it was begun at the Louvre palace. After- 

 ward we find it transferred to its present situation, where 

 Jehan Gobelin had already founded a dye works in the 

 middle of the fifteenth century upon the small stream of 

 the Bievre, the waters of which were supposed to have a 

 special value for dyeing, although this has been since dis- 

 proved, and the fame of the Gobelin dyes was due only to 

 the skill of the workmen. But no weaving was done here 

 until Henri IV. transferred the royal weaving factories to 

 this locality, and placed the whole under the direction of 

 Marc de Comans and De la Planche, when It was first 

 known as the Gobelin tapestry works. It was during the 

 reign of Louis XIV. that the establishment enjoyed Its 

 greatest prosperity. At this time It was much enlarged and 

 was placed under the direction of the painter Lebrun; his 

 cartoons were largely followed In making the great pieces 

 of tapestry which have since become famous. Without at- 

 tempting to follow the further history of the establishment, 

 which covers such a long period, we will give a short ac- 

 count of the various parts of it, and point out some of the 



main processes which are used. The warp or foundation 

 of the Gobelin tapestry is formed of a series of stout 

 woolen threads which are stretched upon the loom, and 

 are well fixed in place. The weaver then applies the woof, 

 which consists of colored threads forming the pattern. 

 Two kinds of tapestry were formerly made. In the haute 

 lisse tapestry the warp was stretched vertically upon the 

 loom, while in the basse lisse it was placed horizontally. 

 At present only the haute lisse is made at the Gobelin 

 works. Some of the looms for this kind of tapestry date 

 from the time of Louis XIV., but have been somewhat Im- 

 proved in more recent times. As will be observed in the 

 accompanying engravings, this type of loom consists of two 

 horizontal cylinders placed about ten feet apart and held 

 in two uprights forming a frame. The cylinders are 

 mounted at the ends in trunnions which work In wooden 

 sockets so that the cylinders can turn freely. The bearing 

 slides up and down in a groove In the frame, and the roller 

 Is turned about by means of a lever. As to length, the 

 looms vary from twelve to twenty-three feet according to 

 the size of the tapestry which Is to be woven. Sometimes 

 several pieces of narrow tapestry can be woven upon a 

 single loom of the larger type. 



When mounting the work upon the loom, the weaver 

 first sets up the warp of vertical threads, and each thread 

 Is given an extra length of about five feet in excess of the 

 desired length of the tapestry. The threads are stretched 

 on the rollers, putting the extra length on the upper roller. 

 The threads of the warp are equally spaced, the standard 

 spacing allowing about twenty-five threads to the inch. 

 The tension upon each of the threads is about seven pounds, 



