foreign tapestries are "pictured" with the summits of Ctesiphon and
Nephates, "wild beasts running rapidly across void canvas, and also by
a miracle of art, the Parthian of wild aspect with his head turned
backwards." This might be a description of a Chinese composition, and
probably it is so.[392]
Woven tapestry is also called "Arras,"[393] because that town in the
Netherlands was the home and school of the art of picture weaving in
the Middle Ages. It has been hitherto excluded from the domain of
needlework, because of the different use of the needle employed in
it. It has always been woven on a loom, and is, in fact, embroidery
combined with the weaving; for the shuttle, or slay, or comb completes
each row of stitches. It belongs as much to our art as does tambour
work, which is done with a hook instead of a needle. Tapestry weaving
is the intelligent craft of a practised hand guided by artistic skill.
The forms of the painted design must be copied by a person who can
draw; and the colours require as much care in selection, as in
painting with oils or water-colours. Such a thing as a purely
mechanical exact copy is impossible in any art; and the difficulties
are increased a hundredfold when it is a translation into another
material, and another form of art. Besides, in this case, the copies
are worked from the back, and the picture is reversed. The question is
this: Can it be claimed as belonging to the same craft as embroidery?
I answer in the affirmative, and I claim it.
"When the Saracens began to weave tapestry we cannot tell; but the
workers in woven pictures were called Sarassins, and their craft, the
'opus Saracenicum.'"[394] The French and Flemish artisans who
continued to weave in the old upright frames (_haute-lisse_) were,
whether Christians or not, called "Sarassins." Probably they came
through Spain, possibly from Sicily to Flanders and to France, or else
from Byzantium. Viollet-le-Duc says that the "Saracinois" was a term
applied to the makers of velvety carpets (_tapis veloutés_).[395] This
is possible.[396] Woven carpets of Oriental type were spreading
themselves as articles of luxury through Europe early in the Middle
Ages; and the Persian style of design was much the same then, when the
first models were brought to Spain, and thence to Arras, as it is now
in the carpets we buy just woven in Persia.[397] The oldest specimens
known here have been exhibited in the Indian Museum, and may be of the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The perishable nature of the
material makes us dependent on the sculptured records of all artistic
design for our knowledge of carpets and hangings of more than a
thousand years ago; and we must confess that we find nothing really
resembling a Persian pattern in any classical tomb or sculpture of the
Dark Ages.[398]
I have allowed myself to touch upon carpet weaving, as it is germane
to tapestry; though it is a branch that soon loses itself and leaves
artistic work in the distance. Except the first design, it has become
purely mechanical.
After what has been quoted from Ovid's "Metamorphoses," and bearing in
mind the pictured webs described by Homer, and likewise the evidence
of the frescoes in Egypt, and the woman weaving on the Greek fictile
vase found at Chiusi, we may be justified in concluding that, like all
other arts, that of tapestry existed in very early days, died out, and
had to begin afresh, and gradually return to life, during the Middle
Ages.
Bishop Gaudry, about 925, possessing a piece of tapestry with an
inscription in Greek letters surrounded by lions "parsemé," was much
put about till he obtained something to match it, to hang on the
opposite side of his choir at Auxerre.[399] And it is known that the
monks of St. Florent, at Saumur, wove tapestries about 985, and
continued to do so for two centuries. St. Angelme of Norway,[400]
Bishop of Auxerre, who died in 840, caused many tapestries to be
executed for his church. At Poitiers this manufactory was so famous in
the eleventh century, that foreign kings, princes, and prelates sought
to obtain them, "even for Italy." The rules of their order of the
monks of the Abbey of Cluny, dated 1009, were followed by those of St.
Wast and of the Abbey of Fleury, and others in France, who all wove
wool and silk for tapestries. Le Père Labbé, from whom much of this
information is drawn and acknowledged by M. Charton (my authority),
says that in 876, at Ponthièvre, in presence of the Emperor Charles
the Bold, the hall of the council-chamber was hung with pictured
tapestries, and the seats were covered with them.[401]
[Illustration: Pl. 48.
Order of the Golden Fleece. Tapestry at Berne, taken from Charles
the Bold at the Battle of Grandson, 1476.]
Sufficient has been said to show that during the dark ages hangings
were woven in France, Germany, and Belgium,[402] and that England was
not behind the rest of the civilized world in this craft. I think,
also, that we have indicated its Oriental origin.[403]
Arras continued to lead as the great tapestry factory till the end of
the fifteenth century, when the commercial failure of the city began,
at the death of Charles le Téméraire, Duke of Burgundy.[404] Plate 48
shows a portion of his tent hangings woven with the order of the
golden fleece taken at the battle of Grandson--now in the museum at
Berne. Till then Arras had supplied most of the splendid decorations of
which we find such marvellous lists. Every possible subject--religious,
romantic, historical, and allegorical--was pressed into the service,
and pictured hangings were supposed to instruct, amuse, and edify the
beholders. The dark ages were illuminated, and their barbarity
softened, by these constant appeals to men's highest instincts, and to
the memories of their noblest antecedents and aspirations, which
clothed their walls, and so became a part of their daily lives. The
great Flemish and French workshops became the illustrators of the
history of the world, as it was then read or being enacted. It is a
record of faiths, religious and political; and of national and family
lives and their changes. The Exhibition at Brussels in 1880 showed, by
its "Catalogue Raisonné," how much could be extracted from its storied
tapestries of both archæological and artistic information.[405]
Though the art continued to be the servant of refined luxury in the
fifteenth century, Arras itself had done its work,[406] and was
superseded as the greatest weaver of artistic tapestry by a neighbour
and rival. Brussels, which had been gradually asserting itself as a
weaving community, from that date absorbed most of the trade of Arras,
and thence forwards, till Henri IV. established the works of the
Savonnerie, Brussels led European taste, and employed the best
artists. Brussels employed Leonardo da Vinci and Mantegna, Giovanni da
Udine, Raphael, and later, Rubens and the great Dutch painters, to
design cartoons for tapestry works. Raphael's pupil, Michael Coxsius,
of Mechlin, superintended the copying of his master's cartoons.
Shortly afterwards, Antwerp, Oudenarde, Lille, Tournai, Valenciennes,
Beauvais, Aubusson, and Bruges all had their schools;[407] and the
adept can trace their differences and peculiarities, and name their
birthplace, without referring to their trade-mark, or to that of the
manufacturer, which is usually to be found in the outer border.
Poitiers, Troyes, Beauvais, Rheims, and St. Quentin likewise had their
schools, and became famous.
Want of space prevents my entering more fully into this subject of the
northern tapestries, and I must refer my readers to the authorities I
have quoted from so largely.
ITALIAN TAPESTRY.
The word Arrazzi shows us whence the Italians drew their art.
Doubtless there were looms in the Italian cities, and especially under
ecclesiastical patronage, through the dark ages. Rome was in
communication with the Atrebates in the third century, by whom she was
supplied with the Byrri, or hooded cloaks then worn; and as it had
been a centre for weaving commerce, it is probable that Rome received
from Arras the craftsmen as well as the produce of their looms. At the
Renaissance we find factories for pictured webs in Florence, Rome,
Milan, Mantua, and elsewhere. The best artists of the Italian
schools--Mantegna, Leonardo, Raphael and his scholars, &c., &c.--gave
their finest designs to be executed in Italy, before they were sold to
Arras, Brussels, France, or England, and they are accumulated in the
treasure-room of every palace in Italy. But the finest collections are
those of the Vatican, and of the Pitti in Florence. A splendid volume
might be edited of these grand artistic works; such a record would be
invaluable. Vasari[408] and Passevant give us occasional glimpses of
local factories for tapestry, but, as we have before said, this
subject has still to be investigated.
FRENCH TAPESTRY.
In France, as elsewhere, tapestry was probably woven in private looms
and in the religious houses from early days. M. Jubinal believes that
it was made at Poitiers, Troyes, Beauvais, Rheims, and St. Quentin as
early as 1025.[409] Froissart describes the entry of Isabel of
Bavaria as a bride into Paris, when the houses were covered with
hangings and tapestries representing historical scenes.[410] The Cluny
Museum possesses a most curious mediæval suite of hangings from the
Chateau de Boussac, of the early part of the fifteenth century. They
tell the story of the "Dame au Lion," and are brilliantly coloured and
charmingly quaint and gay in design. Hangings designed by Primaticcio
were woven at Fontainebleau, where Francis I. started the manufacture
in 1539. However, the first national school of tapestry weaving was
that at Chaillot, under the experienced teaching of workmen from
Arras; afterwards transferred to the town of Gobelins, 1603, by Henri
Quatre.[411] Louis Quatorze and his minister Colbert splendidly
protected this manufacture by law, privilege, and employment; so did
Louis Quinze. Before the Revolution, other considerable tapestry works
were flourishing at Aubusson in Auvergne, at Felletin in the upper
Marches, and at Beauvais. These two last were especially famed for
velvety tapestries (_veloutés_).
As usual, the French have surpassed all other nations in this textile
art. The pictorial tapestries of the Gobelins have carried the beauty
of wall hangings to the utmost perfection. Nothing can be more festive
than a brilliantly lighted hall, glowing with these woven pictures or
arabesques, framed in gilded carvings or stuccoes. Still we must
acknowledge that, in choice of worthy subjects, the Flemish ideal,
which had been left far behind, was the highest. The weavers of the
time of Louis Quatorze aspired only to teach the glories of France,
not the moralities of society and civilization, in their historical
compositions, which were then superseded by classical mythology, or
else by scenes from rustic life, of the Watteau School. La Fontaine's
fables gave some of the prettiest and gayest designs, and were
generally the centres of splendid arabesques. The drawing and
execution were perfect.
It is to be feared that in the future, great works of textile
decoration will be few and far between. It is only when the State, or
the monarch that represents the dignity of the State, protects and
fosters these artistic factories, that they can continue to thrive.
Without such powerful encouragement, fashion, commercial depression,
or a war will stop for a time the orders without which funds fail,
discouragement sets in, and ruin quickly follows; and the best workman
when unemployed, or forced for some years to wield the sword, loses
his practised skill never to be restored. In France, whatever has been
the form of government, the old traditions of protection for the
Gobelins have been acted up to and maintained. The consequence is that
science and art still contribute their efforts in the machinery, the
colouring, and the designing of hangings of which the materials[412]
and the execution are unrivalled. Probably there will never again be a
Tuileries or a Versailles to adorn, but an Hôtel de Ville, especially
if it is occasionally destroyed, may give from time to time
opportunity for such decorations.
ENGLISH TAPESTRY.
When we consider the antiquity and the excellence of the art of
tapestry on the Continent, we cannot pretend that there can be the
same general interest in that of our English looms. But to ourselves
it naturally assumes the greatest importance; and I have tried to
trace the efforts of our ancestors in this direction, by noting every
certain sign of English production, in what must have been an
imitation of Flemish or Oriental weaving. The few facts here collected
may be of service to the future writer of the history of English
tapestries.
Comnenus, Prince of Arras, fled before the Romans from Nomenticum to
England; and he and his Atrebates settled themselves between
Silchester and Sarum, and the Belgæ and Parisi did the same. The
Romans found them here when they invaded England. Wherever the Belgic
tribes spread themselves, the art of weaving was established. Comnenus
probably brought over, and left to his descendants, the inheritance of
this craft.
Dr. Rock thinks that pictured tapestry was woven at an early period in
the Middle Ages by the monks in England. The earliest proof of this
that we possess, is the notice by Matthew Paris (thirteenth century)
describing the three reredos for St. Alban's Abbey; the first, a large
one, depicting the finding of the body of the Protomartyr; the others,
"The Prodigal Son" and "The Man who fell among Thieves." All these
were executed by the orders of Abbot Geoffrey.[413]
While in London in 1316, Simon, Abbot of Ramsay, bought for the use of
his monks, looms, shuttles, and a slay. "Pro weblomes emptes xx^d. Et
pro staves ad eadem vj^d. Item pro iiij Shittles, pro eadem opere
vj^d. Item j sloy pro textoribus viii^d."[414]
In Edward II.'s time there were hangings woven in England which appear
to have been absolutely tapestries. They were much valued abroad, and
were called "Salles d'Angleterre." Charles V. of France (1364)
possessed among his articles of costly furniture, "Une salle
d'Angleterre vermeille brodée d'azur, et est la bordure a vignettes,
et le dedans de Lyons, d'Aigles, et de Lyopars."[415]
Our trade with Arras must have improved our tapestries. We are told of
Edward III. selling his wools to that town, and being therefore called
by Philip de Valois, his "Marchant de Laine." Horace Walpole refers to
an act, "De Mysterâ Tapiciarorum," of the time of Edward III., 1327,
"regarding certain malpractices of the craft," which proves its
existence in England at that period.[416]
Mr. French, in his catalogue of the Exhibition in London, 1851, quotes
the tapestries of St. Mary's Hall at Coventry, to prove that there was
a manufactory in England, _temp._ Henry VI. There were certainly
individual looms, though we doubt whether it had yet become a national
industry, as we have so few specimens remaining. The St. Mary's
tapestries contain portraits of Henry VI., Cardinal Beaufort, &c., and
are probably contemporary works. The subject is the marriage of Henry
VI.
There is also a piece of tapestry at Bude, in Cornwall, the property
of Mr. Maskell, which came from a royal sale. Here the marriage of
Henry VII. is depicted, and the style resembles that of the Coventry
hangings. The costumes are certainly English, and the original
pictures must have been English, though they might have been wrought
at Arras, reminding one of the groups of figures and the dresses on
the Dunstable Pall (see Plate 78).
Dr. Rock also quotes the reredos belonging to the Vintners' Company,
representing St. Martin sharing his cloak with a beggar. He thinks
this is executed by the monks of St. Alban's, and attributes to those
of Canterbury the fine tapestries of the legends of the Virgin at Aix,
in Provence, of which we have the history. They were originally given
to Canterbury Cathedral by Prior Godstone, and were called Arras work.
There is no doubt that there were looms and artists in the convents
and monasteries before there was any recognized school of such work in
England. Probably till the Reformation such hangings were being woven
all over Europe, and only then ceased in Germany and England. One
cannot but regret that the weight of the evil which preponderated over
the good in the Houses of the Church, should have caused so much that
was beautiful in art to be crushed by their ruin.
Chaucer speaks of "tapestry of verd."[417] This green tapestry seems
to have been intended to give a bowery effect to the room it hung; and
one can imagine that it pleased the taste of the poet of the "Flower
and the Leaf." It seems to have been much the fashion in England and
elsewhere about that period, and generally represented landscapes and
woody foregrounds only; but sometimes figures and animals were
portrayed, and always in the same tints of bluish-green.
Dr. Rock gives us an extract from the wardrobe accounts of Edward II.,
containing the following items: "To a mercer of London for a green
hanging of wool, woven with figures of kings and earls upon it; for
the king's service upon solemn feast days in London;" therefore the
"tapestry of verd" was not a novelty even in the time of Chaucer.[418]
Oudenarde was famous for these "hallings" or "salles." All the
specimens mentioned in the catalogue of tapestries exhibited at
Brussels in 1880, are said to be from thence. But we see no reason why
it should not have been an English style of weaving also. The first
establishment of a permanent manufactory in England, did not, however,
take place until the latter end of the reign of Henry VIII., when
Robert Sheldon "allowed" his manor-house at Barcheston, in
Warwickshire, to "one Hicks," whom he signalizes in his will as "the
author and beginner of all tapestry of Arras in England." This will is
dated 1576.[419]
[Illustration: SUMMER
English Tapestry, Temp. Henry VIII. at Hatfield]
There are four pieces of tapestry representing the Seasons, removed
from an old family house and placed by Lord Salisbury at Hatfield
House, where they hang in the great corridor. These were probably
woven in Barcheston. (Plate 49.) The style is English Renaissance, and
the design full of intention; in fact, they have the seal of the time
of Henry VIII. Only one characteristic reminds one of Flemish art,
and that is the mode of drawing the plants and flowers, which might
have been taken out of an old German herbal. The landscapes and
peasantry are unmistakably English. The pictures are worked with
strong black outlines which emphasize every detail and give the effect
of a highly coloured outlined engraving; reminding one of the
children's books by Marcus Ward or by Walter Crane.[420]
The tapestries called the "Spanish Armada hangings" were probably
woven here late in Elizabeth's reign. In her time we find in
catalogues of household goods, descriptions of splendid hangings,
furnishings of palaces and private houses. The MS. inventory of the
Earl of Leicester's belongings, in the library at Longleat, astonishes
us with the abundance of suites of hangings of tapestry that it
enumerates, as well as those embroidered by hand, and others of
stamped and painted leather.
It was in the reign of James I. that the manufacture was set up at
Mortlake, in Surrey. Aubrey, in his "History of Surrey, i. p. 82,"
however, dates the institution in the subsequent reign; but Lloyd[421]
is not only positive for the former date, but affirms it was "of the
motion of King James himself," who gave £2000 towards the undertaking;
and we have further proofs extant that he spent largely, and
encouraged it in every way. He gave to Sir Francis Crane, who erected
the house at Mortlake, "the making of three Baronets" towards his
project for manufacture of tapestry.[422]
Another curious item which we quote, shows that the funds for the
enterprise were not easily forthcoming. It is a warrant "to Sir
Francis Crane: £2000 to be employed in buying £1000 per ann. of
pensions or other gifts made of the king, and not yet payable, for
ease of His Majesty's charge of £1000 a year towards the maintenance
of Sir Francis Crane's tapestry manufacture."[423]
Apparently this little arrangement did not succeed, for there is an
acknowledgment by Charles I., in the first year of his reign,[424]
that he is in debt to Sir F. Crane: "For three suits of gold tapestry
we stand indebted to Sir Francis Crane £6000. Also Sir F. Crane is
allowed £1000 annually for the better maintenance of said works for
ten years to come." The king also granted the estate of Stoke Bruere,
near Stamford, in Northamptonshire, as part payment of £16,400 due to
him on the tapestry works at Mortlake.[425] The great value of these
tapestries is shown by the prices named in the Domestic Papers of the
State Paper Office, and in private inventories; they were woven in
silk, wool, and gold, which last item accounts both for their price
and for their disappearance.
William, Archbishop of York and Lord Keeper, gave £2500 for four
pieces of Arras representing the four Seasons.[426] Their value,
however, fell during the civil wars, for the tapestries of the five
Senses from the Palace of Oatlands, which were from the Mortlake
looms, were sold in 1649 for £270. The beautiful tapestries at
Houghton were woven at Mortlake: these are all silk, and contain whole
length portraits of James I. and Charles I., and their Queens, with
heads of the royal children in the borders. A similar hanging is at
Knowle, wrought in silk, containing portraits of Vandyke and Sir
Francis Crane.[427]
Francis Cleyne was a decorator and painter employed in the works at
Mortlake by Charles I., who, while he was still Prince of Wales,
brought him over to England from Rostock, in Mecklenburg (his native
place), while the Prince was in Spain wooing the Infanta. Cleyne was
great in grotesques, and also undertook in historical designs.[428]
Three of the Raphael cartoons were sent to be copied at Mortlake.[429]
The purchase of these cartoons by the king, showed how high was the
standard to which he tried to raise the art in England. The "Triumph
of Cæsar," by Mantegna, was obtained for the same purpose in 1653; and
certain Dutch prisoners were forwarded to the manufactory to be
employed on the work.[430] It was entrusted to the care of Sir Gilbert
Pickering, who was either an artist or the superintendent of the
works.
After the death of Sir Francis, his brother, Sir Richard Crane, sold
the premises to Charles I. During the civil wars, the property was
seized upon and confiscated as having belonged to the Crown. It
occupied the site of what is now Queen's Head Court. The old house
opposite was built by the king for the residence of Cleyne the artist.
Gibson, the dwarf, and portrait painter, who had been page to a lady
at Mortlake, was one of his pupils.[431]
The value of the king's collection of tapestries was well understood
during the Protectorate. The tapestry house remained in the occupation
of John Holliburie, the "master-workman." After the Restoration,
Charles II. appointed Verrio as designer, intending to revive the
manufactory. This was not, however, carried out; but the work still
lingered on, and must have been in some repute, for Evelyn names some
of these hangings as a fit present among those offered by a gallant to
his mistress.[432]
Arras is said to have been woven at Stamford, but we have no data of
its establishment or its suppression. Burleigh House contains much of
it; and there is a suite of hangings at Belton House, near Grantham,
of which there are duplicates at Wroxton House, in Oxfordshire, all
having the same traditional origin at Stamford. Possibly Sir Francis
and Sir Richard Crane may have received orders at their house at
Stoke Bruere, which lay near enough to Stamford to account for the
magnates of the town and neighbourhood obtaining furnishings of their
tapestries, and, perhaps, vying with each other in decorating their
apartments with them.[433]
In Northumberland House there was a fine suite of tapestry, woven in
Lambeth, 1758.[434] This is the only sample of that loom of which we
ever find any mention. There were also works at Fulham, where
furniture tapestry in the style of Beauvais was made. This manufactory
was closed in 1755.[435] It may be hoped that the revival of tapestry
weaving at Windsor in our own day may be a success, but without the
royal and noble encouragement it receives, it would probably very soon
fall into disuse.
Unless it is supported by the State, such an exceptionally expensive
machinery cannot possibly be kept at work. It requires the
superintendence of the best artists, and the weavers themselves must
needs have the highest technical education to enable them to copy
really fine designs. These artistic requirements, besides the extreme
tediousness of the work, make it the most expensive of all luxurious
decorations--even more costly than embroideries by the hand, covering
the same spaces. However, the two styles of hangings never can enter
into competition, except in a financial point of view. Tapestries are
the best fitted for wall coverings, and embroideries for curtains of
all kinds--for beds, for windows, and for portières.
The old hangings are now again having their day, and we are striving
to save and restore all that remain to us. We must continue to guard
these treasures from the moths, their worst enemies; and science
should be invoked to assist us in the preservation of these precious
works of art, of which the value is now again understood and
appreciated, and which increases with every decade that is added to
their antiquity.
Tapestry, as art, has its own peculiar beauties, and one of them is
the softening, yet brilliant effect of the alternate lights and
shadows of the ridge-like surface; the separation of each stitch and
thread also casting minute shadows in the opposite direction, and
giving an iridescent effect. It is a mistake to struggle against this
inherent quality, instead of seeking to utilize it. The coarser and
simpler tapestries of our ancestors are really more beautiful and
effective in large spaces--flat in the arrangement of colours, and
sharply outlined--than the imitations of paintings of the last two
centuries, in which every detail of form and colour is sought to be
expressed.[436]
M. Blanc says that tapestries were intended to cover the bare walls,
but not to make us forget their existence. The wall being intended for
comfort and defence, the mind is solaced with the idea it conveys. It
is a mistake, therefore, to substitute a surface picture, so real that
it at once does away with this impression of security, while a
certain conventional art should amuse the mind with shadowy
representations and suggestions.
It is, perhaps, fortunate that the possibilities of tapestry weaving
are restricted, and thus its very imperfections become the sources of
its best qualities as decoration and comfort. One element of textile
weaving, the use of gold, both in the backgrounds and in the
draperies, takes it at once out of the region of naturalism, while
giving it light and splendour.
The designer for tapestry need not be a great genius. Harmony, repose,
grace, and tender colouring are the qualities most valuable to such an
artist. Battle-pieces, and other exciting and awful subjects, are only
bearable in apartments that are used for state occasions, or for
hanging corridors and anterooms. They are painful to live with.
All tapestries are liable to suffer by the double nature of their
materials--their woollen surface and linen threads which are affected
by both damp and heat crinkling the forms and puckering the faces, and
bringing out unexpected expressions and deformities. For this reason
the design should be as flat and as simple in its outline and shading
as is consistent with beauty.
FOOTNOTES:
[317] Birdwood, "Indian Arts," p. 283.
[318] "The word in Sanskrit for a needle is _suchi_,
from _such_, to sew or pierce. This is the same word as
the Latin _suo_, to sew; so probably the common word
used by the Aryans in their primeval habitations was
_su_, and they clearly knew how to sew at that remote
period. Eve sewed fig-leaves together. Adam sewed also.
The Hebrew word is _tafar_, and clearly meant _sewing_,
not _pinning_ together with thorns. Sewing is the first
recorded art of our forefathers."--Letter from Mr.
Robert Cust.
[319] Semper, "Der Stil," Textile Kunst, i. pp. 77-90.
[320] Semper, Textile Kunst, "Der Stil," i. p. 77. The
German word "naht," here literally translated, would be,
uniting, weaving, bringing together.
[321] "Handbook of Plain Needlework," by Mrs. Floyer.
See also her "Plain Hints for Examiners," &c.
[322] Dr. Rock, "Introduction," pp. cix, cx, calls it
"thread embroidery," and names some specimens in the
South Kensington Museum. He says it was sometimes done
in darning stitches for ecclesiastical purposes, for
instance, for coverings for the pyx. It is mentioned in
the Exeter inventory of the fourteenth century. There is
notice of white knotted thread-work belonging to St.
Paul's, London, in 1295, by Dugdale (p. 316).
[323] St. Catherine of Sienna's winding-sheet is
described as being cut work (punto tagliato) on linen.
This sounds like embroidery of the type now sold as
"Madeira work," the pattern being cut out and the edges
overcast.
[324] Semper, "Der Stil," i. pp. 132, 203.
[325] See Semper, "Der Stil," i. p. 289.
[326] Ibid. He cites Athenæus, iv. 64.
[327] Phrygia in general, and especially Babylon, were
famed for their embroideries. "Colores diversos picturæ
intexere Babylon maxime celebravit et nomen
imposuit."--Pliny, lib. viii. 74. See D'Auberville,
"Ornement des Tissus," p. 7.
[328] "Der Stil," i. p. 196. "Opus Phrygium," in the
Middle Ages, included all gold work in flat stitches.
The cloak worked by Queen Gisela in the ninth century,
for her husband, St. Stephen, King of Hungary, the
imperial mantle at Bamberg, of the date of 1024, and the
robes of Bishop William de Blois (thirteenth century),
in the library at Worcester Cathedral, are all "opus
Phrygium," and resemble each other in style.
[329] In the Museum at Munich are two remarkable
examples of these imitations. There is an embroidered
badge of the Order of the Dragon, worked in gold and
woven over with coloured silks, so as to present the
appearance of enamel (sixteenth century). The second is
a dress for a herald of the Order of St. Hubertus, which
is richly embroidered in gold and silver, and the badge
and collar are imitated in the most extraordinary
manner, and laid on entirely in gold needlework. This is
of the seventeenth century.
[330] In Salt's collection from Saccarah (British
Museum); also at Turin, in the Egyptian Museum; and in
the collections in the Louvre, figured by Auberville in
the "Ornamentation des Tissus."
[331] Hence the French name, _pointes comptées_.
[332] See Semper, ii. p. 213, for wood-work at
Panticapæum, Kertch, in the Crimea, which evidently has
descended in style from panelled needlework hangings.
Chaldean wall decoration at Khorsabad and Warka, near
Nimroud, recalls the effect of "opus pulvinarium"
according to Loftus. See Semper, i. p. 327.
[333] "Der Stil," i. pp. 196, 248. This is known from
the archaic books of imperial commerce.
[334] Peacocks' feathers, either woven or onlaid, are
those most commonly used in China and Japan. "Ka Moolelo
Hawaii," by M. Jules Remy, Paris, 1861. See Ferdinand
Denis, "Arte Plumaria," p. 66.
[335] Yates, "Textrinum Antiquorum," p. 373, translates
from Publius Syrus the word _plumata_, "feathered." The
word "embroidered" would have here improved the sense,
even though it is a peacock that is described.
"Thy food the peacock, which displays his spotted train,
As shines a Babylonian shawl with feather'd gold."
He also quotes Lucan, who is praising the furnishings of
Cleopatra's palace: "Part shines with feathered gold;
part sheds a blaze of scarlet."--Yates, p. 373.
[336] Sir G. Birdwood, with all his enthusiasm for
Indian art and its forms, yet cannot resist a touch of
humour when he describes a state umbrella, of which the
handle and ribs are pure gold, tipped with rubies and
diamonds, the silken covering bordered with thirty-two
fringed loops of pearls, and "also appropriately
decorated with the feathers of the peacock, heron,
parrot, and goose."--Birdwood, "Indian Arts," ii. p.
182.
[337] "History of the Kingdom of Congo," c. viii. p. 55,
by Filippo Pigafetta (translated by Mrs. M. Hutchinson).
[338] In the Tyrol certain embroideries are called
"Federstickerei."
[339] For the feather hangings at Moritzburg, see
Appendix 2.
[340] "Arte Plumaria," by M. Ferdinand Denis. Paris,
1875.
[341] The Plumarii mentioned by Pliny were craftsmen in
the art of _acu pingere_, or painting with the needle.
Though Seneca speaks of the "opus plumarium" as if it
were absolutely feather-work, yet it may have been at
that time undergoing its transition into embroidery,
suggested by feathers, and imitating them in gold,
silver, wool, or thread. When Lucan describes the
extraordinary change introduced into Roman habits and
luxury by Cleopatra's splendours, his use of the words,
"pars auro plumata nitet," probably means their
imitation or mixture with gold embroidery, and would,
therefore, come under the head of "opus Phrygium."
[342] It is said that the work, named "Plumarium," was
made by the needle; and the Greeks, from the variety of
the threads, called it "Polymitum." "Plumarium dicitur
opus acu factum quod Græci a licionum varietate
multiplici polymitarium appellant."--Robert Stephan.
"Thesaurus Linguæ Latinæ," s.v. Plumarius.
[343] Blümner, i. p. 209. "The Plumarii were a class of
persons mentioned by Vitruvius, and found likewise in
inscriptions. It cannot be decided with certainty what
was their occupation; their name would lead us to
suppose that it has something to do with
feathers."--Becker's "Gallus," ii. p. 288. But see
Marquardt, "Handbuch d. Röm. Altert." vii. pt. 2, p.
523.
[344] "Plumarium qui acu aliquod depingit super
culcitris plumeis."--R. Steph., "Thesaur. Lat."
[345] See "The Funeral Tent of an Egyptian Queen," by
Villiers Stuart.
[346] See Auberville's "Tissus," Plate i.
[347] "Compte Rendu de la Commission Archéologique, St.
Petersburg, 1881." Pl. iii. pp. 112,119.
[348] In the British Museum is the lining of a shield
which shows the arms of Redvers, third Earl of Albemarle
(who died 1260), applied in different coloured silks.
[349] Lent by the Archæological Museum at Madrid.
[350] Rees' Cyclopædia speaks of embroideries "on the
stamp or stump," as being so named "when the figures are
high and prominent, supported by cotton, wool, or hair;"
also in "low and plain embroideries, without enrichment
between." He speaks of work "cut and laid on the cloth,
laid down with gold, enriched with tinsel and spangles."
Rees' Cyclopædia, "Embroidery," 1819.
[351] "Opus consutum." The way in which this applied
work is used in India, for the special adornment of
horse-cloths, saddles, and girths, is very interesting.
[352] The chapter on "application," in the Handbook of
Embroidery of the Royal School of Art Needlework, will
be useful to those who need instruction in the most
practical, and therefore the quickest way of doing cut
work.
[353] Mrs. Palliser's "History of Lace." The origin of
needle-made lace-work is attributed by M. de Gheltof to
the necessity for disposing of the frayed edges of
worn-out garments. This I think somewhat fanciful.
_Fringes_ may have been so suggested.
[354] See M. Blanc's "Art in Ornament and Dress" (p.
200).
[355] Mrs. Bayman (late Superintendent in the School of
Art Needlework) writes thus: "I see no reason to doubt
that the word guipure is derived from 'guipa' or
'guiper,' a ribbon-weaver's term for spinning one thread
round another; and that guipure was originally more like
what we now call 'guimp,' or like 'point de Raguse,'
first being made of thread, of more or less thickness
and commoner material, wound round with a finer flax,
silk, or metal; then they cut shapes, bold scrolls, and
leaves out of cartisane, vellum, or parchment, winding
and covering them over with the more precious thread.
These figures were then connected by brides, only as
close as was required to hold them together, and leaving
large open spaces, thus forming the large scroll
patterns seen in so many old pictures." No doubt the
heavy "Fogliami" and "Rose point" laces developed
themselves from these still older kinds of point. As the
cord and card lace disappeared, the name slid on to all
laces with large, bold patterns and open brides, though
the special method which first created it had been
effaced. Latterly, embroidered netting or laces have
been called "guipure d'art." Littré gives the derivation
of the word; he says it is from the Gothic _Vaipa_, or
German _Weban_ or _Weben_ (_g_ and _p_ replacing the _w_
and _b_).
[356] The word lace came from France, where it was
called _lacis_ or _lassis_, derived from the Latin
_laqueus_ (a noose). These words originally applied to
narrow ribbons--their use being to lace or tie.
[357] The Venetians early made much lace for furniture
or ecclesiastical linen adornment, of what they called
"maglia quadrata," which was usually squared netting,
afterwards filled in with patterns in darned needlework.
This somewhat primitive style of lace trimming was
popular on account of its simplicity, and descended to
the peasantry for their domestic decorations in Spain,
Germany, France, and Italy. There are specimens of this
work believed to be of the thirteenth century. At the
time of the Renaissance the simple geometrical designs
developed into animals, fruits, flowers, and human
figures.
[358] See Rock, p. cix, cx. He says that a sort of
embroidery was called network, and certain drawn work he
calls "opus filatorium." See Catalogue of Textiles in
the South Kensington Museum, by D. Rock, p. cxxvii.
[359] Reminding us of the description of a net--"holes
tied together by a string." As a contrast in descriptive
style, we would quote Dr. Johnson on network: "Anything
reticulated or decussated at equal distances, with
interstices between the intersections."--Johnson's
Dictionary.
[360] Isaiah iii. 18, xix. 9.
[361] The nets of chequer work which hung round the
capitals, with the wreaths of chain work, were designed
by Hiram of Tyre, at Solomon's desire (1 Kings vii. 17).
[362] A fringe lace is made on the Riviera, of the
fibres of the aloe, and is called "macramè," which is an
Arabic word. Mrs. Palliser's "History of Lace," p. 64.
[363] A collar of fine white human hair was made in
point lace stitches at Venice, and worn at his
coronation by Louis Quatorze. It cost 250 pieces of
gold. "Scritti di V. Zanon da Udine" (1829). Cited by
Urbani de Gheltof, "Merletti di Venezia," pp. 22, 23.
[364] See, for example, the inventory of the household
goods of the great Earl of Leicester at Longleat; also
the lists of the possessions of Ippolito and Angela
Sforza (sixteenth century).
[365] Coloured thread and silk laces are still made in
Venice.
[366] In the British Museum.
[367] M. Blanc's use of the word "guipure" is different
from that found in the notices of the art by other
authorities.
[368] The first lace-making machine was contemporary, or
nearly so, with the stocking-making frame. About the
year 1768 it was altered, and adapted for making
open-work patterns. In 1808, the Heathcot machine was
started for bobbin net. In 1813, John Leaver improved on
this idea, with machine-woven patterns. The Jacquard
apparatus achieved the flat patterns, and the new
"Dentellière" has perfected the art. Lace-making by
machinery employed by the latest official returns in
1871, 29,370 women in England, and 24,000 in France. See
Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th edition, p. 183-5.
[369] M. Charles Blanc, "Art in Ornament and Dress," p.
211.
[370] The information contained in these volumes is most
valuable, for the lace-worker as well as the collector.
[371] Lady Layard suggests that the cut lace work, which
was the earliest made in Venice ("punto tagliato,"
"point coupé"), simply consists of button-hole stitch
with purl ornaments. These are varied with geometrical
stitches and needle-weaving in those solid laces called
"punti tagliati Fogliami," and "Rose point de Venise,"
of the finest kinds.
[372] Urbani de Gheltof, in his book, "Merletti di
Venezia," p. 9, says that Venetian laces and fringes
were furnished thence for the coronation of Richard III.
(1483). I fancy that gold guimps or braid, rather than
netted laces, must be here intended, as we have no other
notice of lace so early. See _Ibid._ pp. 10-20.
[373] Henry VIII. had a pair of hose of purple silk,
edged and trimmed with a lace of purple silk and gold,
of Milanese manufacture. Harl. MSS., 1519.
[374] The manufacture of point d'Alençon was created
under the special orders of Louis Quatorze, by Colbert,
in 1673. Now more than 200,000 women, besides the
machinists, are employed in lace-making in France.
Colbert imported the teachers from Venice.
[375] Yriarte says that Alençon, Argenton, Sedan,
Mercourt, Honiton, Bedford, Buckinghamshire,
Oxfordshire, Mechlin, Bruges, Brussels, all followed in
imitation of Venice. Yriarte's "Venise," p. 250.
[376] Titian drew the designs for one of these books for
"punti tagliati." The laces made in the Greek islands
probably owe their origin to Venice, showing the same
"punti in aria."
[377] I have already spoken of "lacis" as either darned
netting or drawn work. Of this there is an English
specimen at Prague, said by tradition to be the gift of
Queen Anne of Bohemia, wife of Richard II. It originally
trimmed or bordered an ecclesiastical garment.
[378] For further information, we refer the reader to M.
Urbani de Gheltof's book on Venice laces already cited
(Organia, Venice, 1876), and Lady Layard's translation
(1882).
[379] I am assured on the best authority that this is
unknown as yet at Burano; but the workers, as well as
the revived industry, are very young. The modern school
of Burano has only been established eleven years. It is
certainly delightful to see the 320 happy faces,
singing, chattering, and smiling over their graceful
occupation; and the beauty of the Buranese women, which
is celebrated, has not suffered from their occupation.
There is a charming little article of the _Revista di
Torino_, 1883, which describes the improvement in the
social condition of Burano, morally and physically, and
the way it is recognized by the inhabitants. Instead of
signs of miserable poverty, the promoters of the lace
school are greeted by the women leaning from the windows
with, "Siestu benedetta!" ("Be thou blessed!").
[380] The word "tapestry" comes from the Greek _tapes_,
which is used equally for hangings or carpets. The
Italians call carpets "tapeti" to this day. It is
believed to have been originally an Egyptian word for
such fabrics.
[381] For instance, the embroidered hangings of the
eighth century at Gerona, in Spain, have been more than
once quoted as proofs of tapestries having been
manufactured there at that period.
[382] The "slay" means the "strike." The word had the
same meaning originally: to slay a man was to strike
him.
[383] See De Champeaux, South Kensington Museum Art
Handbook, 1878.
[384] "Bibliothèque des Merveilles" (sur les
Tapisseries), publié sous la direction de M. Edouard
Charton, à Paris, 1876.
[385] Martial, xiv. 150.
[386] Minerva accepts the challenge of the Mæonian
Arachne, who will not yield to her in the praises of
being first in weaving wool. The girls desert the
vineyards round the little town of Hypæpa, to look at
her admirable workmanship. She boasts that hers is finer
than that of Pallas, and, desiring a vain victory,
rushes upon her own destruction. "... They stretch out
two webs on the loom, with a fine warp. The web is tied
to the beam; the slay separates the warp; the woof is
inserted in the middle with sharp shuttles, while the
fingers hurry along, and being drawn with the warp, the
teeth (notched in the moving slay) strike it. Both
hasten on their labour, and girding up their garments to
their bosoms, they move their skilful arms, their
eagerness beguiling their fatigue. There are being woven
both the purples, which are subjected to the Tyrian
brazen (dyeing) vessel with fine shades of minute
difference; as in the rainbow with its mighty rays
reflected by the shower, where, though a thousand
colours are shining, yet the very transition eludes the
eyes that look upon it; to such a degree is that which
is adjacent the same, and yet the extremes are
different. The pliant gold is mingled with the threads,
and ancient subjects are represented on the webs." Then
follows the list of the subjects. The web of Pallas had
a large central design, and a smaller one on each
corner, surrounded with a border of olive leaves.
Arachne's contained nineteen pictures, of two or more
figures each, and was surrounded by a border of flowers,
interwoven with the twining ivy. Ovid's "Metamorphoses,"
book vi.
Through the kindness of my friend, Lord Houghton, I am
enabled to give the sequel of the story--Arachne's
transformation into the Spider, as--
A PARAPHRASE AND A PARABLE.
Lo! how Minerva, recklessly defied,
Struck down the maiden of artistic pride,
Who, all distraught with terror and despair,
Suspended her lithe body in mid-air;
Deeming, if thus she innocently died,
The sacred vengeance would be pacified.
Not so: implacable the goddess cried--
"Live on! hang on! and from this hour begin
Out of thy loathsome self new threads to spin;
No splendid tapestries for royal rooms,
But sordid webs to clothe the caves and tombs.
Nor blame the Poet's Metamorphoses:
Man's Life has Transformations hard as these;
Thou shall become, as Ages hand thee down,
The drear day-worker of the crowded town,
Who, envying the rough tiller of the soil,
Plies her monotonous unhealthy toil,
Passing through joyless day to sleepless night
With mind enfeebled and decaying sight,
Till some good genius,[437] kindred though apart,
Resolves to raise thee from the vulgar mart,
And once more links thee to the World of Art."
[387] Appendix 3.
[388] Guicciardini ascribes the invention of woven
tapestry to Arras, giving no dates; so we do not know
whether he attributes it to the Belgic Atrebates or to
their successors, the Franks. In either case the craft
was probably imported from the East.
[389] The Atrebates were the inhabitants of that Belgic
region till the fifth century; now it is the province of
Artois, probably a corruption of the name "Atrebates."
Taylor, "Words and Places" (1865), pp. 229-385.
[390] Castel, "Des Tapisseries," p. 30.
[391] Sidonius Apollinaris, Epist. ix., 13. Cited in
Yule's "Marco Polo," p. 68.
[392] Castel, "Des Tapisseries," p. 31.
[393] The commentators of Vasari, MM. Lechanché and
Jenron, believe that this art was coeval in the Low
Countries with Roman civilization and Christianity; but
it would appear that the weavers had fled to Britain to
escape from the Romans. Ibid. p. 52. Traces of the name
Arras have been found by Bochart and Frahn in Ar-ras,
the Arabian name for the river Araxes and the people who
inhabit its shores; but this may be accidental, and is
at best an uncertain derivation.
[394] Rock, Introduction, p. cxii. This "Saracenic work"
is really so like what is called by the Germans
"Gobelins" when found in Egyptian tombs that one can
hardly doubt whence the Moors brought their art. There
are several Egyptian specimens in the British Museum.
See also the catalogue of Herr Graf'schen's collection
of Egyptian textiles, from the first to the eighth
century. "Katalog der Teodor Graf'schen Fünde in
Ægypten, von Dr. Karabacek. Wien, 1883."
[395] Viollet-le-Duc, "Dictionnaire du Mobilier
Français, Tapis," p. cxii; also M. Jubinal, "Tapisserie
Historique." It is difficult absolutely to assign to any
known specimens a date anterior to the fifteenth
century; although M. de Champeaux thinks that the
"Sarazinois" were mostly or entirely carpet-weavers
about the eleventh century. He says there is documentary
authority to prove that these were woven with flowers
and animals. There is a very deep-piled velvety carpet
at Gorhambury (the Earl of Verulam's place). Here Queen
Elizabeth's arms and cypher appear on a Persian or
Moresque ground pattern surrounded with a wreath of oak
leaves. It may have been a gift from Spain,--left after
one of her visits to her Chancellor.
[396] "Tapisseries des Gobelins," A. L. Lacordaire, p.
10 (1853). He considers that the Sarazinois were
embroiderers as well as weavers--and this theory is
supported by extracts from an inventory of Charles VI.'s
hangings of 1421.
Every detail of the art and its materials was carefully
regulated by the French statutes of 1625-27, containing
many laws for the perfecting of the manufacture of new
as well as the restoration of old tapestries--and fines
were imposed for not using materials as nearly as
possible matching the original ones; and likewise for
any other dereliction from the rules of the craft. Ibid.
pp. 9, 10, 14.
[397] At the Poldi Bezzoli Museum in Milan there are
some very fine carpets; one especially, a Persian, is
supposed to be of the fifteenth century. This is very
finely woven of pure, tender colours, and the whole
composition, flowers and animals (most beautifully drawn
lions, &c.), is delicately outlined in black on a white
ground. The colouring is rich and harmonious, and has
the iridescent effect of mother of pearl.
[398] In the San Clemente frescoes at Rome there are
hangings which show a semi-Asiatic style.
[399] "Mémoires Historiques et Ecclesiastiques
d'Auxerre," par M. l'Abbé Lebœuf, i. pp. 178, 231.
[400] There are very interesting Norwegian tapestries of
the sixteenth century, which show distinctly an Eastern
origin.
[401] Jubinal, "Tapisseries," pp. 25, 26;
Viollet-le-Duc, "Dic. de Mobilier Français," p. 269.
[402] There is much splendid tapestry--German, and
especially Bavarian,--to be seen at Munich; and, indeed,
the more one seeks, the more one finds that private
looms were constantly at work in the Middle Ages for
votive offerings. There is a tapestry altar-piece at
Coire, in the Grisons, of the Crucifixion, which is
evidently of the fourteenth century. The colours are
still brilliant, and the whole background is beautifully
composed of growing flowers. No sky is seen. There is at
Munich an altar frontal of tapestry, Gothic of the
fifteenth century, exquisitely beautiful. The weaver has
introduced a little portrait of herself at her loom,
under the folds of the virgin's cloak at her feet.
[403] M. Albert Castel ("Tapisserie," p. 53) believes
that the taking of Constantinople, when Earl Baldwin was
elected to the throne of Byzantium, had a great effect
on Flemish art, which then received a strong impulse
from Oriental designs and traditions. See M. Jubinal's
very interesting account of the tapisserie de Nancy
which lined the tents of Charles the Bold at the siege
of Nancy (p. 439). These tapestries are an allegory
against gluttony. "Tapisseries Hist.," pp. 1-5.
[404] Charles the Bold has left us records of his taste
in tent hangings of Arras at Berne, as well as at Nancy.
These are the plunder from his camp equipage after the
battle of Grandson. The whole suite, of many pieces,
represents battles and sieges, and sacred subjects also,
such as the adoration of the Magi. They are finely drawn
and splendidly executed with gold lights, and are of the
most perfect style of the fifteenth century. The
National Museum at Munich contains most valuable
specimens of very early and very fine tapestries;
amongst others, a Virgin, which was certainly designed
in the school of Dürer, and is of the greatest
perfection of its art, both as to colour and drawing and
the general effect, which has a soft, dreamy beauty,
only to be seen in fine woollen tapestries, and
differing from pictorial design and intention.
[405] See Rock, cxii: Among the remarkable suites of
tapestry of which we find historical mention are the
following: In 1334, John de Croisette, a "Tapissier
Sarazinois, demeurant à Arras vendit au Duc de Touraine
un tapis Sarazinois à or: de l'histoire de Charlemagne"
(Voisin, p. 6). Of the many recorded as belonging to
Philip, Duke of Burgundy and Brabant, one piece, "Haulte
lice sanz or: de l'histoire du Duc de Normandie, comment
il conquit Engleterre."--"Les Ducs de Bourgogne," par le
Comte de Laborde, ii. p. 270, No. 4277.
[406] M. de Champeaux, the author of the "Handbook of
Art Tapestry" belonging to the series of the Kensington
Museum, 1878, says that the history of Arras has yet to
be written. He, however, gives a great deal of
interesting information, especially about the French
tapestries, on which subject we fancy there is little
more to tell. Their art does not come from such a
distant time as that of the Belgian manufactures. After
Louis IX. had decimated the inhabitants, and dispersed
the remainder, Arras yet made a gallant struggle to
revive her industry and compete with the rising
prosperity of Brussels; but France had decreed against
her.
[407] "Encyclopædia Britannica" ("Art Tapestry"), pp.
17, 97.
[408] Vasari vividly describes the design for a tapestry
for the King of Portugal--the history of Adam--on which
Leonardo da Vinci, then aged twenty, was engaged. He
lingers tenderly over the picture of the flowery field
and the careful study of the bay-trees. Vasari, tom.
vii. p. 15; ed. Firenze, 1851.
[409] See M. Jubinal's "Tapisseries Historiées," p. 26;
Viollet-le-Duc, "Mobilier Français," i. p. 269.
[410] Froissart's "Chronicles," iv., chap. 23; Johnes
ed. 1815.
[411] M. de Champeaux, "Handbook of Art Tapestry," p.
24; also Rock, "Textiles," p. 122. M. Lacordaire,
"Tapisserie des Gobelins," p. 15, tells us that under
Louis XIII. the statutes of 1625-27 contain many
regulations for the perfection of the materials employed
in weaving new as well as in restoring old tapestries.
Fines were imposed for not matching the colours
carefully.
[412] English wool is still used for the finest
tapestries at the Gobelins. The wool from Kent is
considered the best.
[413] "Vitæ St. Alban. Abbatum," p. 40; Rock, p. cxi.
That the walls were covered with tapestry in the
thirteenth century is supposed to be proved by the
description of Hrothgar's house in the Romance of
Beowulf. We are told that the hangings were rich with
gold, and a wondrous sight to behold. "History of
Domestic Manners, &c., in England during the Middle
Ages," by Thomas Wright, p. 2.
[414] Matthew Paris, in Dugdale Monast., ed. 1819, ii.
p. 185.
[415] Quoted by Michel from MSS. in the Imperial
Library, Paris.
[416] This was a writ to the Aldermen and Sheriffs of
the City of London, principally levelled against the
dealings of "certain Frenchmen which were against the
well-being of the trade of the Tapissiarii ... by
petition of Parliament at Westminster." Calend. Rot.
Pat. Edward III., p. 148, "De Mysterâ Tapiciarorum,"
Lond. M. 41.
[417] Called "verdures" in French inventories.
[418] Rock's Introduction, p. lxxix.
[419] "The art of weaving tapestry was brought to
England by William Sheldon, Esq., about the end of the
reign of Henry VIII."--See Dugdale's "Warwickshire"
("Stemmata:" Sheldon), 2nd edition, folio, vol. i. p.
584; also Lloyd's "State Worthies," p. 953, quoted by
Manning and Bray, "Hist. of Surrey," vol. iii. p. 82.
But we have an earlier notice of a spirited attempt to
make fine tapestries at Kilkenny. Piers, Earl of
Ormonde, married the daughter of Fitzgerald, Earl of
Kildare, "a person of great wisdom and courage." They
brought from Flanders and the neighbouring provinces
artificers and manufacturers, whom they employed at
Kilkenny in working tapestries, diaper, Turkey carpets,
cushions, &c. Piers died 1539. Carte's Introduction to
the "Life of James, Duke of Ormonde," vol. i. p. 93
(Oxford, 1851).
[420] William Sheldon at his own expense brought workmen
from Flanders, and employed them in weaving maps of the
different counties of England. Of these, three large
maps, the earliest specimens, were purchased by the Earl
of Orford (Horace Walpole), by whom they were given to
Earl Harcourt. He had them repaired and cleaned, and
made as fresh as when out of the loom, and eventually
gave them to Gough, the antiquary, who bequeathed them
to the University of Oxford. The Armada tapestry, which
is stated to have been designed by Henry Cornelius
Vroom, the Dutch marine painter, and woven by Francis
Spiering, appears to have been, in 1602, in the
possession of Lord Howard, Lord High Admiral and the
hero of the Armada. Fuller particulars are given in
Walpole's "Anecdotes," i. p. 246, under the name of
Vroom, Sandart being the principal authority. Part of
them were in the House of Lords till 1834, when they
perished in the fire. These had been engraved in 1739 by
John Pine, but it appears that at that time there were
in the royal wardrobe other pieces, now lost.
[421] Lloyd's "Worthies."
[422] Calendar of State Papers, cx. No. 26, James I.,
1619-23.
[423] Calendar of State Papers, vol. clxxxi. No. 48.
[424] Rymer, "Fœdera," vol. viii. p. 66, ed. 1743.
[425] Brydges, "Northamptonshire," i. p. 323, under the
head of "Stoke Bruere," pt. 1, p. 48.
[426] Manning and Bray's "History of Surrey," vol. iii.
p. 302.
[427] Horace Walpole, "Anecdotes of Painting in
England," vol. ii. p. 22.
[428] Macpherson, "Annals of Commerce."
[429] There is in Brydges' "Northamptonshire," under the
head of "Stoke Bruere" (the estate which King James gave
to Sir F. Crane as part payment of the deficit of
£16,400 in his tapestry business), mention of the
cartoons of "Raphael of Urbin, ... had from Genoa," and
their cost, £300, besides the transport. M. Blanc says,
with great justness, that Raphael, when he prepared
these cartoons for tapestry, made designs for weaving,
and _did not paint pictures_. If they had been intended
for oil pictures, they would have been very differently
treated.
[430] Calendar State Papers, Domestic, Sept. 28th, 1653.
[431] Horace Walpole's "Anecdotes of Painting," vol.
iii. p. 64.
[432] See Evelyn's very scarce tract, entitled "Mundus
Muliebris," printed 1690, p. 8.
[433] Lord Tyrconnell, Lord Exeter, and Lord Guildford
had married three of the Brownlow heiresses of Belton,
who had a winter residence at Stamford.
[434] Designed by Francesco Zuccharelli. Rock,
Introduction, p. cxiv.
[435] It has been at different periods the crowning
glory of the craft of the weaver to place different
patterns or pictures on the two sides of the web. This
would almost appear to be impossible, but that it has
been done in late years, according to Rock, who tells us
that he saw a banner so woven, with the Austrian eagle
on one side and the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception
on the other. He says that the same manufacturer was
then being employed in producing ecclesiastical garments
with the colours and patterns so varied.
[436] In old tapestries three tints only were employed
for the complexions of men, women, and children--the
man's reddish, the woman's yellow, and the child's
whiter than either. It is an agreeable economy of
colours, simple and effective, and avoids the pictorial
imitation that one deprecates. See M. Charles Blanc's
"Grammaire des Arts Décoratifs: Tapisserie," p. 112.
[437] The poet here refers to H.R.H. the Princess
Christian.