What Are Tapestries? 
eclipse in richness and perfection of weaving all the 
other products of the Gobelins. Metal threads were 
lavishly used and the master weavers received a 
special price for their work. Of this series only one 
complete high warp set remains. But on the low 
warp, in smaller 
size, with narrow 
border, the sub¬ 
jects were repro¬ 
duced five or six 
times. The visit 
of Louis XIV. to 
the Gobelins is 
about the only 
one that contains 
a spark of humor. 
The king has ap¬ 
parently arrived 
before he was ex¬ 
pected, and, as he 
enters the door, 
the workmen and 
attendants are 
breaking their 
backs to move 
tables and chairs 
out of the way, 
and rearrange 
things gener¬ 
ally. 
The series 
showing the 
Royal Residen- 
ces of the 
Louvre, the Pal¬ 
ais-Royal, Ma¬ 
drid, Versailles, 
Saint Germain, 
F ontainebleau, 
Vincennes, Mar- 
imont, Cham- 
bord, the Tuile- 
ries, Blois, Mon- 
ceaux, corre¬ 
sponding to the 
twelve months of the year, is considered by M. 
Guiffrey the most original of Le Brun’s works. The 
series was reproduced five times from 1668 to 1680, 
twice in high warp, three times in low warp. 
The History of Alexander achieved an immense 
popularity and innumerable copies of it were made 
by all the contemporary weavers. From the Gobe¬ 
lins alone between 1664 and 1683 came eight sets— 
eighty-six tapestries in all—four high warp and four 
low warp, and all embellished with metal. 
One of the most eminent of Le Brun’s collabora¬ 
tors was Noel Coypel who sought his inspiration in 
Italy. Among cartoons painted by him are the 
Tapestry woven in the last half of the Fifteenth Century. One of the series 
entitled, The Lady and the Unicorn, in the famous Cluny Museum in Paris. It 
bears the arms of the house of Le Viste. The unicorn is a fabulous animal that 
passes for the symbol of chastity, strength and speed, and according to the 
ancients could be tamed by a virgin only. 
Triumphs of the Gods, and the Subjects from Ancient 
History, after Giulio Romano or Rafael. These 
tapestries are extremely decorative and the Bath of 
Psyche, the Marriage of Alexander, the Judgment of 
Paris, the Rape of Helen are admirable compositions. 
It is interesting 
to note that the 
nudity of some 
figures shocked 
the sensibilities 
of that mother 
of prudes, Ma¬ 
dame de Main- 
tenon. Because 
of her protests 
the nude por¬ 
tions were cut 
out and draped 
limbs substi¬ 
tuted. The path 
of the scissors 
can be distin¬ 
guished on the 
M a r riage of 
Alexander that 
now hangs in 
the Museum of 
the Gobelins. 
Magnificent 
draperies were 
also provided in 
the same way 
for the three 
go d d e s s e s in 
the Judgment of 
Paris. 
The best 
known tapestry 
designers of 
the eighteenth 
century were 
Claude Audran, 
Charles Coypel, 
Jean Fran^oisde 
Troy, and Fran¬ 
cois Boucher. Watteau worked for some time in 
the atelier of Audran and his influence is felt in the 
Portieres of the Gods that represent the Four Sea¬ 
sons and the Four Elements, each being personified 
by one of the gods: Spring by Venus, Summer by 
Ceres, Autumn by Bacchus, Winter by Saturn, Air 
by Juno, Earth by Diana, Water by Neptune, Fire 
by Jupiter. Of these innumerable reproductions 
were made in the eighteenth century and since. 
These tapestries owe much to the fanciful archi¬ 
tecture that decorated the walls of ancient Roman 
houses, and that was first employed in modern decora¬ 
tion by Rafael, under the name of Italian Grotesque. 
