288 ON THE MANUFACTURE OF GOBELINS TAPESTRY 
The chemist and the dyer having in vain exhausted the resources of 
their art, whatever may be in effect, the shades employed and the pro- 
cess in preparing chem, they cannot arrive, in the light part of the shades, 
" gammes" (a) at the same solidity as in the deep tones. Vainly too, in 
the composition of patterns for tapestry, have they exerted themselves 
not to leave the limits of the pallet of the dyer in solid colours. About 
the year 1812, the head of a workshop in basse lice, M. Gilbert Degrolle,(6) 
solved the problem by a new combination of colours, in the tissue even 
of the tapestry, replacing the old system of monochrome or cross hatch- 
ing, in one shade, by hatchings in two shades.(c) He applied this pro- 
cess, however, only in a restricted degree ; and many years must pass 
before it arrives at perfection, and is generally adopted in workshops. 
He is at present almost the only one who uses it. It is, in fact, the 
sole way of forming a combination of colours in wool or in silk, which 
admits of obtaining in the highest degree, exactness in the translation 
of the colours of the pattern, durable harmony of the shades employed, 
and transparency. 
This invention, which to be perfectly explained would require to be 
fully unravelled, constitutes a true revolution in the working of the 
Gobelins manufactory. The remarks made at different times, on the 
absence of durability and harmony in the colouring of some tapestries 
of ancient date, are now inapplicable, as attested by the number of 
suites of hangings sent forth from this establishment during the last 
twenty years. 
After the hundred days, M. Lemonniere, historical painter, director 
of this manufacture from 1810, was obliged to retire, as well as MM. 
Roard and Augustine Belle; the latter having entered it in 1802 as 
inspector and professor of the school of design. 
M. le Baron des Rotours, formerly an officer of artillery, was named 
manager, and filled the duties of that office until 1833. 
M. le Comte de la Boulaye-Marillac, named director of the dyeing 
department the 10th October, 1816, was besides required to give a course 
of lectures on chemistry applicable to dyeing. The salary of the pro- 
fessor was deducted from the fund of 6,000 francs, annually granted by 
the Minister of the Interior for the school of Painting, which reduced 
from six to three, the number of pupils in this school From this re- 
duction to a total suppression the descent was rapid ; so that, as appeared 
a few years later, at the period for the nomination of the actual titular 
(a) At Gobelins are expressed by "gammes," the whole of the regular grada- 
tions, from brown to bright of a shade ; generally the number of these gradations 
is from twenty to twenty-four in the workshop of Savonnerie, and from twenty 
to thirty for tapestry. 
(b) Died in 1814. 
(c) Hachures are employed in graduating tints and to avoid the mosaic effect 
which results from a simple juxtaposition of colours ; they constitute one of the 
greatest difficulties in tapestry work. 
