What Are Tapestries ? 
FROM THE SERIES OF TAPESTRIES AT THE CATHEDRAL OF ANGERS ENTITLED “THE STORY 
OF SAINTS GERVAIS AND PROTAIS 
the fourteenth century. As in the thirteenth cen¬ 
tury d’Arras (of Arras) is a common surname. The 
tapissiers of London received a charter in 1331. In 
1344 Edward III. instituted an inquiry intotheLondon 
tapestry industry {de inquirendo mister a tapicianorum). 
In 1392 the Earl of Arundel bequeathes to his wife a 
chamber set of tapestry recently made in London— 
blue tapestry with red roses and armorial bearings. 
Tapestry weaving continued general in Western 
Europe during the fifteenth century, but in the six¬ 
teenth century Brussels succeeds to the position of 
leadership left vacant by the ruin of Arras, and 
Gothic designs are supplanted by those of Renais¬ 
sance character. At Brussels were woven the famous 
Acts of the Apostles designed by Rafael for Pope Leo 
X. and already mentioned in connection with Mort- 
lake. The tapestries were ten in number—the Mi¬ 
raculous Draft of Fishes, Christ’s Charge to Peter, 
Peter and John at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, 
the Death of Ananias, the Martyrdom of Stephen, 
the Conversion of Paul, Elymas the Sorcerer struck 
with Blindness, the Sacrifice at Lystra, Paul at 
Philippi, Paul Preaching at Athens—all about 15 
feet high and averaging 42 feet long. The weaver 
was Peter Van Aelst, whose artistic adviser was the 
Flemish painter Bernard Van Orley. In 1519, only 
four years after he received the cartoons, he delivered 
the completed tapestries. They are estimated to 
have cost the Pope about $150,000. They were so 
much admired that during the next few years Van 
Aelst received orders for the duplicate sets that are 
now in Madrid, Berlin, Vienna, and Dresden. 
During the seventeenth century designs of Rubens 
were much used, especially his History of Achilles, 
History of Ulysses, Triumph of the Church, History 
of Decius. The scenes of Teniers were also popular. 
During the eighteenth century the glory of Brus¬ 
sels disappeared. Butin the year 1700 there were 
still nine master weavers with fifty-three looms and 
150 workmen. In Brussels were woven the Vic¬ 
tories of the Duke of Marlborough for Blenheim 
Palace. Imitations of Gobelin tapestries were 
common. One of these is the Brussels tapestry sold 
to Robert Goelet at the Stanford White sale for 
$10,500. It was made by Daniel Leyniers and, by 
comparison with the prices of the 1901 De Somzee 
sale in Brussels, should have sold in New York for at 
least $15,000. In future numbers of House and 
Garden, I shall discuss at greater length the ways 
of distinguishing a Gobelin from an Aubusson, an 
Arras from a Brussels, a Coptic from a Peruvian 
and all from imitations of them. 
