,,the ,,tapestry ,,book ,,by ,,helen ,,churchill ,,candee ,,author ,,of ,,decorative ,,styles ,,and ,,periods ,,with ,,four ,,plates ,,in ,,colour ,,and ,,ninety-,,nine ,,illustrations ,,in ,,black-,,and-,,white ,,new ,,york ,,frederick ,a4 ,,stokes ,,company ,,mcmxii ,illustration3 ,,herse ,,and ,,mercury ,renaissance ,brussels ,tapestry1 ,italian ,cartoon4 ,w4 de ,pannemaker1 weaver4 ,collection of ,george ,blumenthal1 ,esq41 ,new ,york ,copyright1 #aiab1 by ,,frederick ,a4 ,,stokes ,,company ,all rights reserved1 including that of translation into foreign languages1 including the ,scandinavian ,october1 #aiab ,,to ,,two ,,certain ,,byzantine ,,madonnas ,,and ,,their ,,owners ,,an ,,acknowledgment ,modesty so dominates the staff in art museums that ,i am requested not to make mention of those officers who have helped me with friendly courtesy and efficiency4 ,to the officers and assistants at the ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art in ,new ,york1 the ,art ,institute of ,chicago1 the ,museum of ,fine ,arts in ,boston1 and the ,print ,department in the ,library of ,congress in ,washington1 indebtedness is here publicly acknowledged with the regret that ,i may not speak of individuals4 ,photographs of tapestries are credited to ,messrs4 ,a4 ,giraudon1 ,paris2 ,j4 ,laurent1 ,madrid2 ,alinari1 ,florence2 ,wm4 ,baumgarten1 and ,albert ,herter1 ,new ,york1 and to those private collectors whose names are mentioned on the plates4 ,h4 ,c4 ,c4 ,,contents ,,chapter ,,page ,i ,a ,,foreword #a ,,ii ,,antiquity #ae ,,iii ,,modern ,,awakening #be ,,iv ,,france ,,and ,,flanders1 #ae,,th ,,century #cb ,v ,,high ,,gothic #ea ,,vi ,,renaissance ,,influence #fd ,,vii ,,renaissance ,,to ,,rubens #gb ,,viii ,,italy1 #ae,,th ,,through #ag,,th ,,centuries #ha ,,ix ,,france #ij ,x ,,the ,,gobelins ,,factory #aje ,,xi ,,the ,,gobelins ,,factory 7,continued7 #aag ,,xii ,,the ,,gobelins ,,factory 7,continued7 #abf ,,xiii ,,the ,,gobelins ,,factory 7,continued7 #ace ,,xiv ,,beauvais #ade ,,xv ,,aubusson #aed ,,xvi ,,savonnerie #aei ,,xvii ,,mortlake #afc ,,xviii ,,identifications #agb ,,xix ,,identifications 7,continued7 #ahf ,,xx ,,borders #bja ,,xxi ,,tapestry ,,marks #baf ,,xxii ,,how ,,it ,,is ,,made #bbf ,,xxiii ,,the ,,bayeux ,,tapestry #bda ,,xxiv ,,to-,,day #bdi ,,best ,,periods ,,and ,,their ,,dates #bfe ,,index #bfg ,,illustrations ,,herse ,,and ,,mercury 7,coloured ,plate7 ,frontispiece ,renaissance ,brussels ,tapestry1 ,italian ,cartoon4 ,w4 de ,pannemaker1 weaver4 ,collection of ,george ,blumenthal1 ,esq41 ,new ,york ,,facing ,,page ,,chinese ,,tapestry #ad ,chien ,lung ,period ,,coptic ,,tapestry #ae ,about #cjj ,a4 ,d4 ,,coptic ,,tapestry #af ,boston ,museum of ,fine ,arts ,,coptic ,,tapestry #ag ,boston ,museum of ,fine ,arts ,,tapestry ,,found ,,in ,,graves ,,in ,,peru #ah ,date prior to ,sixteenth ,century ,,the ,,sacraments 7,coloured ,plate7 #cd ,arras ,tapestry1 about #adcj4 ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york ,,the ,,sacraments #ch ,arras ,tapestry1 about #adcj ,,the ,,sacraments #ci ,arras ,tapestry1 about #adcj ,,fifteenth ,,century1 ,,french ,,tapestry #dj ,boston ,museum of ,fine ,arts ,,the ,,life ,,of ,,christ #da ,flemish ,tapestry1 second half of ,fifteenth ,century4 ,boston ,museum of ,fine ,arts ,,la ,,baillee ,,des ,,roses #db ,french ,tapestry1 about #adej4 ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york ,,fifteenth ,,century ,,millefleur ,,with ,,arms #dc ,cathedral of ,troyes ,,the ,,lady ,,and ,,the ,,unicorn #dd ,french ,tapestry1 ,fifteenth ,century4 ,musee de ,cluny1 ,paris ,,the ,,lady ,,and ,,the ,,unicorn #de ,french ,tapestry1 ,fifteenth ,century4 ,musee de ,cluny1 ,paris ,,the ,,sack ,,of ,,jerusalem 7,,detail7 #df ,burgundian ,tapestry1 about #adej4 ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york ,,scenes ,,from ,,the ,,life ,,of ,,christ1 ,,with ,,armorial ,,shields #dh ,flemish ,tapestry1 ,fifteenth ,century4 ,institute of ,art1 ,chicago ,,history ,,of ,,the ,,virgin #di ,angers ,cathedral ,,david ,,and ,,bathsheba #ej ,german ,tapestry1 about #adej ,,flemish ,,tapestry4 ,,about #aejj #ea ,collection of ,alfred ,w4 ,hoyt1 ,esq4 ,,david ,,and ,,bathsheba #eb ,flemish ,tapestry1 late ,fifteenth ,century ,,history ,,of ,,st4 ,,stephen #ec ,arras ,tapestry1 ,fifteenth ,century ,,verdure #ed ,french ,gothic ,tapestry ,,ecce ,,homo #ee ,brussels ,tapestry1 about #aebj4 ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york ,,allegorical ,,subject #ef ,flemish ,tapestry1 about #aejj4 ,collection of ,alfred ,w4 ,hoyt1 ,esq4 ,,crossing ,,the ,,red ,,sea #eg ,brussels ,tapestry1 about #aejj4 ,boston ,museum of ,fine ,arts ,,the ,,kingdom ,,of ,,heaven #eh ,flemish ,tapestry1 about #aeaj4 ,collection of ,j4 ,pierpont ,morgan1 ,esq41 ,new ,york ,,flemish ,,tapestry1 ,,end ,,of ,,fifteenth ,,century #fj ,collection of ,martin ,a4 ,ryerson1 ,esq41 ,chicago4 ,formerly in the ,spitzer ,collection ,,the ,,holy ,,family #fa ,flemish ,tapestry1 end of ,fifteenth ,century4 ,collection of ,martin ,a4 ,ryerson1 ,esq41 ,chicago4 ,formerly in the ,spitzer ,collection ,,conquest ,,of ,,tunis ,,by ,,charles ,v 7,,detail7 #fb ,cartoon by ,jan ,vermeyen4 ,woven by ,pannemaker4 ,royal ,collection at ,madrid ,,death ,,of ,,ananias4--,,from ,,acts ,,of ,,the ,,apostles ,,by ,,raphael #fd ,from the ,palace of ,madrid ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,rebecca #fe ,brussels ,tapestry1 ,sixteenth ,century4 ,collection of ,arthur ,astor ,carey1 ,esq41 ,boston ,,the ,,creation #ff ,flemish ,tapestry4 ,italian ,cartoon1 ,sixteenth ,century ,,the ,,original ,,sin #fg ,flemish ,tapestry4 ,italian ,cartoon1 ,sixteenth ,century ,,meleager ,,and ,,atalanta #fh ,flemish design1 second half of ,seventeenth ,century4 ,woven in ,paris workshops by ,charles de ,comans ,,punic ,,war ,,series #fi ,brussels ,tapestry4 ,sixteenth ,century4 ,collection of ,arthur ,astor ,carey1 ,esq41 ,boston ,,episode ,,in ,,the ,,life ,,of ,,caesar #gj ,flemish ,tapestry4 ,sixteenth ,century4 ,gallery of the ,arazzi1 ,florence ,,wild ,,boar ,,hunt #ga ,flemish ,cartoon and ,weaving1 ,sixteenth ,century4 ,gallery of the ,arazzi1 ,florence ,,vertumnus ,,and ,,pomona #gb ,first half of ,sixteenth ,century4 ,royal ,collection of ,madrid ,,vertumnus ,,and ,,pomona #gc ,first half of ,sixteenth ,century4 ,royal ,collection of ,madrid ,,vertumnus ,,and ,,pomona #gd ,first half of ,sixteenth ,century4 ,royal ,collection of ,madrid ,,vertumnus ,,and ,,pomona #ge ,first half of ,sixteenth ,century4 ,royal ,collection of ,madrid ,,tapestries ,,for ,,head ,,and ,,side ,,of ,,bed #gf ,renaissance designs4 ,royal ,collection of ,madrid ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,rebecca #gg ,brussels ,tapestry4 ,sixteenth ,century4 ,collection of ,arthur ,astor ,carey1 ,esq41 ,boston ,,brussels ,,tapestry4 ,,late ,,sixteenth ,,century #gh ,weaver1 ,jacques ,geubels4 ,institute of ,art1 ,chicago ,,meeting ,,of ,,antony ,,and ,,cleopatra #gi ,brussels ,tapestry4 ,woven by ,gerard van den ,strecken4 ,cartoon attributed to ,rubens ,,the ,,annunciation 7,coloured ,plate7 #hb ,italian ,tapestry4 ,fifteenth ,century4 ,collection of ,martin ,a4 ,ryerson1 ,esq41 ,chicago ,,italian ,,tapestry1 ,,middle ,,of ,,sixteenth ,,century #hd ,cartoon by ,bacchiacca4 ,woven by ,nicholas ,karcher ,,italian ,,tapestry4 ,,middle ,,of ,,sixteenth ,,century #he ,cartoon by ,bacchiacca4 ,woven by ,g4 ,rost ,,italian ,,verdure4 ,,seventeenth ,,century #hf ,,the ,,finding ,,of ,,moses #ij ,gobelins1 ,seventeenth ,century4 ,cartoon after ,poussin4 ,the ,louvre ,museum ,,triumph ,,of ,,juno #ia ,gobelins under ,louis ,,xiv ,,triumph ,,of ,,the ,,gods 7,,detail7 #id ,gobelins1 ,seventeenth ,century ,,triumph ,,of ,,the ,,gods 7,,detail7 #ie ,gobelins ,tapestry ,,gobelins ,,border 7,,detail7 ,,seventeenth ,,century #ih ,,children ,,gardening #ii ,after ,charles ,lebrun4 ,gobelins1 ,seventeenth ,century4 ,chateau ,henri ,quatre1 ,pau ,,children ,,gardening #ajb ,after ,charles ,lebrun4 ,gobelins1 ,seventeenth ,century4 ,chateau ,henri ,quatre1 ,pau ,,gobelins ,,grotesque #ajc ,musee des ,arts ,decoratifs1 ,paris ,,gobelins ,,tapestry1 ,,after ,,lebrun1 ,,epoch ,,louis ,,xiv #ajd ,collection of ,wm4 ,baumgarten1 ,esq41 ,new ,york ,,the ,,village ,,fete #aje ,gobelins ,tapestry after ,teniers ,,design ,,by ,,rubens #aaj ,,design ,,by ,,rubens #aaa ,,design ,,by ,,rubens #aab ,,gobelins ,,tapestry4 ,,design ,,by ,,rubens #aac ,royal ,collection1 ,madrid ,,louis ,,xiv ,,visiting ,,the ,,gobelins ,,factory #aad ,gobelins ,tapestry1 ,epoch ,louis ,,xiv ,,gobelins ,,tapestry4 ,,time ,,of ,,louis ,,xv #abf ,,hunts ,,of ,,louis ,,xv #acj ,gobelins1 ,g4 ,audran after ,cartoon by ,oudry ,,esther ,,and ,,ahasuerus ,,series #aca ,gobelins1 about #agcj4 ,cartoon by ,j4 ,f4 de ,troy2 ,g4 ,audran1 weaver ,,cupid ,,and ,,psyche #acb ,gobelins ,tapestry4 ,eighteenth ,century4 ,design by ,coypel ,,portrait ,,of ,,catherine ,,of ,,russia #acc ,gobelins under ,louis ,,xvi4 ,,chair ,,of ,,tapestry4 ,,style ,,of ,,louis ,,xv #acf ,,gobelins ,,tapestry 7,,detail7 ,,cramoisee4 ,,style ,,louis ,,xv #acg ,,henri ,,iv ,,before ,,paris #adf ,beauvais ,tapestry1 ,seventeenth ,century4 ,design by ,vincent ,,henri ,,iv ,,and ,,gabrielle ,d',,estrees #adg ,design by ,vincent ,,beauvais ,,tapestry4 ,,eighteenth ,,century #adh ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york ,,beauvais ,,tapestry4 ,,time ,,of ,,louis ,,xvi #adi ,collection of ,wm4 ,baumgarten1 ,esq41 ,new ,york ,,beauvais ,,tapestry4 ,,time ,,of ,,louis ,,xiv #aej ,,beauvais ,,tapestry #aeb ,,chair ,,covering #aec ,beauvais ,tapestry4 ,first ,empire ,,savonnerie4 ,,portrait ,,supposably ,,of ,,louis ,,xv #afb ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york ,,vulcan ,,and ,,venus ,,series4 ,,mortlake #afc ,collection of ,philip ,hiss1 ,esq41 ,new ,york ,,vulcan ,,and ,,venus ,,series4 ,,mortlake #afh ,collection of ,philip ,hiss1 ,esq41 ,new ,york ,,vulcan ,,and ,,venus ,,series4 ,,mortlake #afi ,collection of ,philip ,hiss1 ,esq41 ,new ,york ,,the ,,expulsion ,,of ,,vulcan ,,from ,,olympus 7,coloured ,plate7 #agj ,,weaver ,,at ,,work ,,on ,,low ,,loom4 ,,herter ,,studio #bbh ,,sewing ,,and ,,repair ,,department4 ,,baumgarten ,,ateliers #bbi ,,baumgarten ,,tapestry4 ,,late ,,nineteenth ,,century #bcj ,,baumgarten ,,tapestry4 ,,modern ,,cartoon #bca ,,baumgarten ,,tapestry4 ,,modern ,,cartoon #bcd ,,bayeux ,,tapestry4 7,,detail7 #ajff #bdb ,,bayeux ,,tapestry4 7,,detail7 #ajff #bdc ,,bayeux ,,tapestry4 7,,detail7 #ajff #bdd ,,modern ,,american ,,tapestry1 ,,louis ,,xv ,,inspiration #bej ,,modern ,,american ,,tapestry ,,from ,,french ,,inspiration #bea ,,gobelins ,,tapestry4 ,,late ,,nineteenth ,,century #beb ,luxembourg1 ,paris ,,gobelins ,,tapestry4 ,,late ,,nineteenth ,,century #bec ,pantheon1 ,paris ,,the ,,adoration #bef ,merton ,abbey ,tapestry4 ,figures by ,burne-,jones ,,david ,,instructing ,,solomon ,,in ,,the ,,building ,,of ,,the ,,temple #beg ,merton ,abbey ,tapestry4 ,burne-,jones1 ,artist ,,truth ,,blindfolded #beh ,merton ,abbey ,tapestry4 ,byram ,shaw1 ,artist ,,the ,,passing ,,of ,,venus #bfj ,merton ,abbey ,tapestry4 ,cartoon by ,burne-,jones ,,angeli ,,laudantes #bfa ,merton ,abbey ,tapestry ,,american 7,,baumgarten7 ,,tapestry ,,copied ,,from ,,the ,,gothic #bfb ,,dryads ,,and ,,fauns #bfc ,from ,herter ,looms1 ,new ,york1 #aiaj ,,the ,,tapestry ,,book ,,chapter ,i ,a ,,foreword ,the commercial fact that tapestries have immeasurably increased in value within the last five years1 would have little interest were it not that this increase is the direct result of ,america's awakened appreciation of this form of art4 ,it has come about in these latter days that tapestries are considered a necessity in the luxurious and elegant homes which are multiplying all over our land4 ,and the enormous demand thus made on the supply1 has sent the prices for rare bits into a dizzy altitude1 and has made even the less perfect pieces seem scarce and desirable4 ,the opinion of two shrewd men of different types is interesting as bearing on the subject of tapestries4 ,one with tastes fully cultivated says impressively1 ,buy good old tapestries whenever you see them1 for there are no more4 ,the other says bluffly1 ,tapestries8 ,you can't touch 'em4 ,the prices have gone way out of sight1 and are going higher every day4 ,the latter knows but one view1 the commercial1 yet both are right1 and these two views are at the bottom of the present keen interest in tapestries in our country4 ,outside of this1 ,europe has collections which we never can equal1 and that thought alone is enough to make us snatch eagerly at any opportunity to secure a piece4 ,we may begin with our ambition set on museum treasures1 but we can come happily down to the friendly fragments that fit our private purses and the wall-space by the inglenook4 ,tapestries are not to be bought lightly1 as one buys a summer coat1 to throw aside at the change of taste or circumstance4 ,they demand more of the buyer than mere money2 they demand that loving understanding and intimate appreciation that exists between human friends4 ,a profound knowledge of tapestries benefits in two ways1 by giving the keenest pleasure1 and by providing the collector--or the purchaser of a single piece--with a self-protection that is proof against fraud1 unconscious or deliberate4 ,the first step toward buying must be a bit of pleasant study which shall serve in the nature of self-defence4 ,not by books alone1 however1 shall this subject be approached1 but by happy jaunts to sympathetic museums1 both at home and abroad1 by moments snatched from the touch-and-go talk of afternoon tea in some friend's salon or library1 or by strolling visits to dealers4 ,these object lessons supplement the book1 as a study of entomology is enlivened by a chase for butterflies in the flowery meads of ,june1 or as botany is made endurable by lying on a bank of violets4 ,all work and no play not only makes ,jack a dull boy1 but makes dull reading the book he has in hand4 ,the tale of tapestry itself carries us back to the unfathomable ,east which has a trick at dates1 making the ,christian ,era a modern epoch1 and making of us but a newly-sprung civilisation in the history of the old grey world4 ,after showing us that the ,east pre-empted originality for all time1 the history of tapestry lightly lifts us over a few centuries and throws us into the romance of ,gothic days1 then trails us along through increasing ,european civilisation up to the great awakening1 the ,renaissance4 ,then it loiters in the pleasant ways of the kings of ,france during the ,seventeenth and ,eighteenth ,centuries1 and finally falls upon modern effort1 not limited to ,europe now1 but nesting also in the ,new ,world which is especially our own4 ,tapestry1 according to the interpretation of the word used in this book1 is a pictured cloth1 woven by an artist or a talented craftsman1 in which the design is an integral part of the fabric1 and not an embroidery stitched on a basic tissue4 ,with this flat statement the review of tapestries from antiquity until our time may be read without fear of mistaking the term4 ,,the ,,loom ,the looms on which tapestries are made are such as have been known as long as the history of man is known1 but we have come to call them high-warp and low-warp1 or as the ,french have it1 haute lisse and basse lisse4 ,in the celebrated periods of weaving the high loom has been the one in use1 and to it is accredited a power almost mysterious2 yet the work of the two styles of loom are not distinguishable by the weave alone1 and it is true that the low-warp looms were used in ,france when the manufacture of tapestries was permanently established by the ,crown about #afjj4 ,so difficult is it to determine the work of the two looms that weavers themselves could not distinguish without the aid of a red thread which they at one time wove in the border4 ,yet because the years of the highest perfection in tapestries have been when the high loom was in vogue1 some peculiar power is supposed to reside within it4 ,that the high movements of the fine arts have been contemporary with perfection in tapestries1 seems not to be taken into consideration4 ,,necessary ,,french ,,terms ,french terms belong so much to the art of tapestry weaving that it is hard to find their ,english equivalent4 ,tapestries of verdure and of personnages describe the two general classes1 the former being any charming mass of greenery1 from the ,gothic millefleurs1 and curling leaves with animals beneath1 to the lovely landscapes of sophisticated park and garden which made ,beauvais famous in the ,eighteenth ,century4 ,tapisseries des personnages have1 as the name implies1 the human figure as the prominent part of the design4 ,the shuttle or bobbin of the high loom is called a broche1 and that of the low loom a flute4 ,weavers throughout ,europe1 whether in the ,low ,countries or in ,france1 were called tapissiers1 and this term was so liberal as to need explaining4 ,,workers' ,,functions ,the tapestry factory was under the guidance of a director2 under him were the various persons required for the work4 ,each tapestry woven had a directing artist1 as the design was of primary importance4 ,this man had the power to select the silks and wools for the work1 that they might suit his eye as to colour4 ,but there was also a chef d'atelier who was an artist weaver1 and he directed this matter and all others when the artist of the cartoons was not present4 ,under him were the tapissiers who did the actual weaving1 and under these1 again1 were the apprentices1 who began as boys and served three years before being allowed to try their hands at a 'prentice job or essay at finished work4 ,,weavers ,the word weaver means so little in these days that it is necessary to consider what were the conditions exacted of the weavers of tapestries in the time of tapestry's highest perfection4 ,a tapissier was an artist with whom a loom took place of an easel1 and whose brush was a shuttle1 and whose colour-medium was thread instead of paints4 ,this places him on a higher plane than that of mere weaver1 and makes the term tapissier seem fitter4 ,much liberty was given him in copying designs and choosing colours4 ,in the ,middle ,ages1 when the ,gothic style prevailed1 the master-weaver needed often no other cartoon for his work than his own sketches enlarged from the miniatures found in the luxurious missals of the day4 ,these historic books were the luxuries of kings1 were kept with the plate and jewels1 so precious were considered their exquisitely painted scenes in miniature4 ,from them the master-weaver drew largely for such designs as ,the ,seven ,deadly ,sins and other morality subjects4 ,master-weavers were many in the best years of tapestry weaving2 indeed1 a man must have attained the dignity and ability of that position before being able to produce those marvels of skill which were woven between #adge and #aege in ,flanders1 ,france and ,italy4 ,their aids1 the apprentices1 pique the fancy1 as ,puck harnessed to labour might do4 ,they were probably as mischievous1 as shirking1 as exasperating as boys have ever known how to be1 but those little unwilling slaves of art in the ,middle ,ages make an appeal to the imagination more vivid than that of the shabby lunch-box boy of to-day4 ,,dyers ,accessory to the weavers1 and almost as important1 were the dyers who prepared the thread for use4 ,the conscientiousness of their work cries out for recognition when the threads they dyed are almost unaltered in colour after five hundred years of exposure to their enemies1 light and air4 ,dye stuffs were precious in those days1 and so costly that even threads of gold and silver 7which in general were supplied by the client ordering the tapestry7 hardly exceeded in value certain dyed wools and silk4 ,all of these workers1 from director down to apprenticed lad1 were bound by the guild to do or not do1 according to its infinite code1 to the end that the art of tapestry-making be held to the highest standards4 ,the laws of the guilds make interesting reading4 ,the guild prevailed all over ,europe and regulated all crafts4 ,in ,florence even to-day evidences of its power are on every side1 and the ,guildhall in ,london attests its existence there4 ,moreover1 the greatest artists belonged to the guilds1 uniting themselves usually by work of the goldsmith1 as ,benvenuto ,cellini so quaintly describes in his naive autobiography4 ,,guilds ,it was these same protective laws of the guilds that in the end crippled the hand of the weaver4 ,the laws grew too many to comply with1 in justice to talent1 and talent with clipped wings could no longer soar4 ,at the most brilliant period of tapestry production ,flanders was to the fore4 ,all ,europe was appreciating and demanding the unequalled products of her ateliers4 ,it was but human to want to keep the excellence1 to build a wall of restrictions around her especial craft that would prevent rivals1 and at the same time to press the ateliers to execute all the orders that piled in toward the middle of the ,sixteenth ,century4 ,but although the guilds could make wise laws and enforce them1 it could not execute in haste and retain the standard of excellence4 ,and thus came the gradual decay of the art in ,brussels1 a decay which guild-laws had no power to arrest4 ,,gothic ,,period ,the first period in tapestries which interests--except the remnants of ,egyptian and aboriginal work--is that of the ,middle ,ages1 the early ,gothic1 because that is when the art became a considerable one in ,europe4 ,it is a time of romance1 of chivalry1 of deep religious feeling1 and yet seems like the childhood of modernity4 ,is it the fault of crudity in pictorial art1 or the fault of romances that we look upon those distant people as more elemental than we1 and thus feel for them the indulgent compassion that a child excites8 ,however it is1 theirs is to us a simple time of primitive emotion and romance1 and the tapestries they have left us encourage the whim4 ,the time of ,gothic perfection in tapestry-making is included in the few years lying between #adge and #aebj4 ,life was at that time getting less difficult1 and art had time to develop4 ,it was no longer left to monks and lonely ladies1 in convent and castle1 but was the serious consideration of royalty and nobility4 ,no need to dwell on the story of modern art1 except as it affects the art of tapestry weaving4 ,with the improvement of drawing that came in these years1 a greater excellence of weave was required to translate properly the meaning of the artist4 ,the human face which had hitherto been either blank or distorted in expression1 now required a treatment that should convey its subtlest shades of expression4 ,gifted weavers rose to the task1 became almost inspired in the use of their medium1 and produced such works of their art as have never been equalled in any age4 ,these are the tapestries that grip the heart1 that cause a frisson of joy to the beholder4 ,and these are the tapestries we buy1 if kind chance allows4 ,if they cannot be ours to live with1 then away to the museum in all haste and often1 to feast upon their beauties4 ,,renaissance ,that great usurper1 the ,renaissance1 came creeping up to the ,north where the tapestry looms were weaving fairy webs4 ,pope ,pius ,x wanted tapestries1 those of the marvellous ,flemish weave4 ,but he wanted those of the new style of drawing1 not the sweet restraint and finished refinement of the ,gothic4 ,raphael's cartoons were sent to ,brussels' workshops1 and thus was the ,north inoculated with the ,renaissance1 and thus began the second phase of the supreme excellency of ,flemish tapestries4 ,it was the ,renaissance expressing itself in the wondrous textile art4 ,the weavers were already perfect in their work1 no change of drawing could perplex them4 ,but to their deftness with their medium was now added the rich invention of the ,italian artists of the ,renaissance1 at the period of perfection when restraint and delicacy were still dominant notes4 ,it was the overworking of the craft that led to its decadence4 ,toward the end of the ,sixteenth ,century the extraordinary period of ,brussels perfection had passed4 ,but tapestry played too important a part in the life and luxury of those far-away centuries for its production to be allowed to languish4 ,the magnificence of every great man1 whether pope1 king or dilettante1 was ill-expressed before his fellows if he were not constantly surrounded by the storied cloths that were the indispensable accessories of wealth and glory4 ,palaces and castles were hung with them1 the tents of military encampments were made gorgeous with their richness1 and no joust nor city procession was conceivable without their colours flaunting in the sun as background to plumed knights and fair ladies4 ,venice looked to them to brighten her historic stones on days of carnival1 and ,paris spread them to welcome kings4 ,,france ,when1 therefore1 ,brussels no longer supplied the tissues of her former excellence1 opportunity came for some other centre to rise4 ,the next important producer was ,paris1 and in ,paris the art has consistently stayed4 ,other brief periods of perfection have been attained elsewhere1 but ,paris once establishing the art1 has never let it drop1 not even in our own day--but that is not to be considered at this moment4 ,divers reigns of divers kings1 notably that of ,henri ,,iv1 fostered the weaving of tapestry and brought it to an interesting stage of development1 after which ,louis ,,xiv established the ,gobelins4 ,from that time on for a hundred years ,france was without a rival1 for the decadent work of ,brussels could not be counted as such4 ,although the work of ,italy in the ,seventeenth ,century has its admirers1 it is guilty of the faults of all of ,italy's art during the dominance of ,bernini's ideals4 ,,american ,,interest ,america is too late on the field to enter the game of antiquity4 ,we have no history of this wonderful textile art to tell4 ,but ours is the power to acquire the lovely examples of the marvellous historied hangings of other times and of those nations which were our forebears before the ,new ,world was discovered4 ,and we are acquiring them from every corner of ,europe where they may have been hiding in old chateau or forgotten chest4 ,to the museums go the most marvellous examples given or lent by those altruistic collectors who wish to share their treasures with a hungry public4 ,but to the mellow atmosphere of private homes come the greater part of the tapestries4 ,to buy them wisely1 a smattering of their history is a requisite4 ,within the brief compass of this book is to be found the points important for the amateur1 but for a profounder study he must turn to those huge volumes in ,french which omit no details4 ,not entirely by books can he learn4 ,association with the objects loved1 counts infinitely more in coming to an understanding4 ,happy he who can make of tapestries the raison d'etre for a few months' loitering in ,europe1 and can ravish the eye and intoxicate the imagination with the storied cloths found hanging in ,england1 in ,france1 in ,spain1 in ,italy1 in ,sweden1 and learn from them the fascinating tales of other men's lives in other men's times4 ,then1 when the tour is finished and a modest tapestry is hung at home1 it represents to its instructed owner the concentrated tale of all he has seen and learned4 ,in the weave he sees the ancient craftsman sitting at his loom4 ,in the pattern is the drawing of the artist of the day1 in the colours1 the dyes most rare and costly2 in the metal1 the gold and silver of a duke or prince2 and in the tale told by the figures he reads a romance of chivalry or history1 which has the glamour given by the haze of distant time to human action4 ,to enter a house where tapestries abound1 is to feel oneself welcomed even before the host appears4 ,the bending verdure invites1 the animated figures welcome1 and at once the atmosphere of elegance and cordiality envelopes the happy visitor4 ,to live in a house abundantly hung with old tapestries1 to live there day by day1 makes of labour a pleasure and of leisure a delight4 ,it is no small satisfaction in our work-a-day life to live amidst beauty1 to be sure that every time the eyes are raised from the labour of writing or sewing--or of bridge whist1 if you like--they encounter something worthy and lovely4 ,in the big living-room of the home1 when the hours come in which the family gathers1 on a rainy morning1 or on any afternoon when the shadows grow grim outside and the afternoon tea-tray is brought in whispering its discreet tune of friendly communion1 the tapestries on the walls seem to gather closer1 to enfold in loving embrace the sheltered group1 to promise protection and to augment brotherly love4 ,in the dining-room the glorious company assembles1 so that he who eats therein1 attends a feast on ,olympus1 even though the dyspeptic's fast be his lot4 ,if the eyes gaze on ,coypel's gracious ladies1 under fruit and roses1 with adolescent gods adoring1 what matters if the palate is chastised8 ,in a dining-room soft-hung with piquant scenes1 even buttermilk and dog-biscuit1 burnt canvasback and cold ,burgundy lose half their bitterness4 ,when night is well started in its flight1 perhaps one only1 one lover of the silence and the solitude1 loath to give away to soft sleep the quiet hours1 this one remains behind when all the others have flown bedward1 and to him the neighbouring tapestries speak a various language4 ,from the easy chair he sees the firelight play on the verdure with the effect of a summer breeze1 the gracious foliage all astir4 ,the figures in this enchanted wood are set in motion and imagination brings them into the life of the moment1 makes of them sympathetic playmates coaxing one to love1 as they do1 the land of romance4 ,before their imperturbable jocundity what bad humour can exist8 ,all the old songs of mock pastoral times come singing in the ears1 ,it happened on a day1 in the merry month of ,may1 ,shepherds all and maidens fair1 ,it was a lover and his lass1 ,phoebus arise1 and paint the skies1 et cetera4 ,animated by the fire1 in the silence of the winter night the loving horde gathers and ministers to the mind afflicted with much hard practicality and the strain of keeping up with modern inexorable times4 ,this sweet procession on the walls1 thanks be to lovely art1 needs no keeping up with1 merely asks to scatter joy and to soften the asperities of a too arduous day4 ,all the way up the staircase in the house of tapestries are dainty bits of millefleurs1 that ,gothic invention for transferring a block of the spring woods from under the trees into a man-made edifice4 ,it may have a deep indigo background or a dull red--like the shades of moss or like last year's fallen leaves--but over it all is abundantly sprinkled dainty bluebells1 anemones1 daisies1 all the spring beauties in joyous self-assertion and happy mingling4 ,with such flowery guides to mark the way the path to slumberland is followed4 ,once within the bedroom1 the poppies of the hangings spread drowsy influence1 and the happy sleeper passes into unconsciousness1 passes through the flowered border of the ancient square1 into the scene beyond1 becomes one of those storied persons in the enchanted land and lives with them in jousts and tourneys or in fetes champetres at lovely chateaux4 ,the magic spell of the house of tapestries has fallen like the dew from heaven to bless the striver in our modern life of exigency and fatigue4 ,illustration3 ,,chinese ,,tapestry ,chien ,lung ,period ,illustration3 ,,coptic ,,tapestry ,about #cjj ,a4 ,d4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,antiquity ,egypt and ,china1 ,india and ,persia1 seem made to take the conceit from upstart nations like those of ,europe and our own toddling ,america4 ,directly we scratch the surface and look for the beginning of applied arts1 the lead takes us inevitably to the oldest civilisation4 ,it would seem that in a study of fabrics which are made in modern ,europe1 it were enough to find their roots in the mediaeval shades of the dark ages2 but no1 back we must go to the beginning of history where man leaped from the ambling dinosaur1 which then modestly became extinct1 and looking upon the lands of the ,nile and the ,yangtsi-kiang found them good1 and proceeded to pre-empt all the ground of applied arts1 so that from that time forward all the nations of the earth were and are obliged to acknowledge that there is nothing new under the sun4 ,in the ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art in ,new ,york is a bit of tapestry1 ,coptic1 that period where ,greek and ,egyptian drawing were intermixed1 a woman's head adorned with much vanity of head-dress1 woven two or three centuries after ,christ4 7,plate facing page #ae47 ,in the ,boston ,museum of ,fine ,arts are other rare specimens of this same time4 7,plates facing pages #af and #ag47 ,looking further back1 an ancient decoration shows ,penelope at her high loom1 four hundred years before the ,christian era2 and one1 still older1 shows the ,egyptians weaving similarly three thousand years before that epoch4 ,it is not altogether thrilling to read that civilised people of ancient times wove fabrics for dress and decoration1 but it certainly is interesting to learn that they were masters of an art which we carelessly attribute to ,europe of six centuries back1 and to find that the weaving apparatus and the mode of work were almost identical4 ,the ,coptic tapestry of the ,third ,century is woven in the same manner as the tapestries that come to us from ,europe as the flower of comparatively recent times1 and its dyes and treatment of shading are identical with the ,gothic times4 ,penelope's loom as pictured on an ancient vase1 is the same in principle as the modern high-warp loom1 although lacking a bit in convenience to the weaver2 and so we can easily imagine the lovely lady at work on her famous web1 playing for time1 during ,ulysses' absence1 when she sat up o' nights undoing her lovely stint of the day4 ,and the ,egyptian loom shown in ancient pictures--that is even more modern than ,penelope's1 although it was set up three thousand years before1 a last guide-post on the backward way to the misty land called prehistoric4 ,but as there is really little interest except for the archeologist in digging so far into the past for an art that has left us but traditions and museum fragments1 let us skim but lightly the surface of this time1 only picking up the glistening facts that attract the mind's eye1 so that we may quickly reach the enchanted land of more recent times which yet appear antique to the modern4 ,illustration3 ,,coptic ,,tapestry ,boston ,museum of ,fine ,arts ,illustration3 ,,coptic ,,tapestry ,boston ,museum of ,fine ,arts ,there are those to whom reading the ,bible was a forced task during childhood1 a class which slipped the labour as soon as years gave liberty of choice4 ,there are others who have always turned as naturally to its accounts of grand ceremony and terrible battles as to the accounts of ,caesar1 ,coeur de ,lion1 ,charlemagne4 ,but in either case1 whatever the reason for the eye to absorb these pages of ancient ,hebrew history1 the impression is gained of superb pomp4 ,and always concerned with it are descriptions of details1 lovingly impressed1 as though the chronicler was sure of the interest of his audience4 ,in this enumeration1 decorative textiles always played a part4 ,such textiles as they were exceed in extravagance of material any that we know of ,european production1 for in many cases they were woven entirely of gold and silver1 and even set with jewels4 ,these gorgeous fabrics shone like suns on the magnificent pomp of priest and ruler1 and declared the wealth and power of the nation4 ,they departed from the original intention of protecting shivering humanity from chill draughts or from close and cold association with the stones of architectural construction1 and became a luxury of the eye1 a source of bewilderment to the fancy and a lively intoxication to those who--irrespective of class1 or of century--love to compute display in coin4 ,but1 dipping into the history of one ancient country after another1 it is easy to see that the usual fabric for hanging was woven of wool1 of cotton and of silk1 and carried the design in the weaving4 ,babylon the great1 ,egypt under the ,pharaohs1 ,greece in its heroic times1 ,rome under the ,emperors--not omitting ,china and ,india of the ,far ,east--these countries of ancient peoples all knew the arts of dyeing and weaving1 of using the materials that we employ1 and of introducing figures symbolic1 geometric1 or realistic into the weaving4 ,beyond a doubt the high loom has been known to man since prehistoric times4 ,it may be discouraging to those who like to feel that tapestry properly belongs to ,europe only1--,europe of the last six centuries--to find that the art has been sifted down through the ages2 but in reality it is but one more link between us and the centuries past1 the human touch that revivifies history1 that unites humanity4 ,people of the past wear a haze about them1 are immovable and rigid as their pictured representations4 ,the ,assyrian is to us a huge man of impossible beard1 the ,egyptian is a lean angle fixed in posture1 the ,greek is eternally posed for the sculptor4 ,but once we can find that these people were not forever transfixed to frieze1 but were as simple1 as industrious1 as human as we1 the kinship is established1 and through their veins begins to flow the stream that is common to all humanity4 ,these people felt the same need for elegantly covering the walls of their homes that we in this country of new homes feel1 and the craftsmen led much the same lives as do craftsmen of to-day4 ,even in the matter of expense1 of money which purchasers were willing to spend for woven decorative fabrics1 we see no novelty in the high prices of to-day1 the ,twentieth ,century4 ,the ,mantle of ,alcisthenes is celebrated for having been bought by the ,carthaginians for the equal of a hundred thousand dollars4 ,illustration3 ,,tapestry ,,found ,,in ,,graves ,,in ,,peru ,date prior to ,sixteenth ,century ,thus we connect ourselves with the remote past in making a continuous history4 ,but as the purpose of this book is to assist the owner of tapestries to understand the story of his hangings and to enable the purchaser or collector to identify tapestries on his own knowledge instead of through the prejudiced statements of the salesman1 it is useless to dwell long upon the fabrics that we can only see through exercise of the imagination or in disintegrated fragments in museums4 ,then away with ,circe and her leisure hours of weaving1 with ,helen and her heroic canvas1 and the army of grandiose ,biblical folk1 and let us come westward into ,europe in short review of the textiles called tapestry which were produced from the early ,christian centuries to the time of the ,crusades1 and thus will we approach more modern times4 ,so far as known1 high-warp weaving was not universally used in ,europe in the first part of the ,middle ,ages4 ,whether plain or figured1 most of the fabrics of that time that have come down to us for hangings or for clothing1 are woven1 with the decorative pattern executed by the needle on woven cloth4 ,in ,persia and neighbouring states1 however1 the high-warp loom was used4#a ,europe in the ,middle ,ages was a place so savage1 so devastated by war and by neighbouring malice1 that to consider it is to hear the clash of steel1 to feel the pangs of hunger1 to experience the fearsome chill of dungeons or moated castles4 ,it was a time when those who could huddle in fortresses mayhap died natural deaths1 but those who lived in the world were killed as a matter of course4 ,man was man's enemy and to be killed on sight4 ,in such gay times of carnage1 art is dead4 ,men there were who drew designs and executed them1 for the luxe of the eye is ever demanding1 but the designs were timid and stunted and came far from the field of art4 ,fabrics were made and worn1 no doubt1 but when looms were like to be destroyed and the weavers with them1 scant attention was given to refinements4 ,by the time the ,tenth ,century was reached matters had improved4 ,we come into the light of records4 ,it is positively known that the town of ,saumur1 down in the lovely country below ,tours1 became the destination of a quantity of wall-hangings1 carpets1 curtains1 and seat covers woven of wool4 ,this was by order of the third ,abbot ,robert of the ,monastery of ,st4 ,florent1 one of those vigorous1 progressive men whose initiative inspires a host4 ,it is recorded that he also ordered two pieces of tapestry executed1 not of wool exclusively1 but with silk introduced1 and in these the figures of the designs were the beasts that were then favourites in decoration and that still showed the influence of ,oriental drawing4 ,before enumerating other authentic examples of early tapestries it is well to speak of the reason for their being invariably associated with the church4 ,the impression left by history is that folk of those days must have been universally religious when not cutting each other in bits with bloody cutlass4 ,the reason is1 of course1 that when poor crushed humanity began to revive from the devastating onslaughts of fierce ,northern barbarians1 it was with a timid huddling in monasteries1 for there was found immunity from attack4 ,the lord of the castle was forced to go to war or to resist attack in his castle1 but the monastery was exempt from whatever conscription the times imposed1 and frocked friars were always on hand were defence needed4 ,thus it came about that monasteries became treasure-houses1 the only safe ones1 were built strong1 were sufficiently manned1 and therefore were the safe-deposit of whatever articles of concentrated value the great lord of the ,middle ,ages might accumulate4 ,many tapestries thus deposited became gifts to the institution which gave them asylum4 ,the arts and crafts of the ,middle ,ages were in the hands of the monasteries1 monks and friars being the only persons with safety and leisure4 ,weaving fell naturally to them to execute as an art4 ,in the castles1 necessary weaving for the family was done by the women1 as on every great lord's domains were artisans for all crafts2 and great ladies emulated ,penelope and ,helen of old in passing their hours of patience and anxiety with fabricating gorgeous cloths4 ,but these are exceptional1 and deal with such grand ladies as ,queen ,matilda1 who with her maidens embroidered 7not wove7 the ,bayeux ,tapestry1 and with the ,duchess ,gonnor1 wife of ,richard ,first1 who embroidered for the church of ,notre ,dame at ,rouen a history of the ,virgin and ,saints4#b ,to the monasteries must be given the honour of preserving this as many other arts1 and of stimulating the laity which had wealth and power to present to religious institutions the best products of the day4 ,the subjects executed inside the monastery were perforce religious1 many revelling in the horrors of martyrology1 and those intended as gifts or those ordered by the clergy were religious in subject for the sake of appropriateness4 ,it is interesting to note the sweet childlike attitude of all lower ,europe toward the church in these years1 a sort of infantile way of leaving everything in its hands1 all knowledge1 all wisdom1 all power4 ,it was not even necessary to read or write1 as the clergy conveniently concerned themselves with literacy4 ,as late as the beginning of the ,fifteenth ,century ,philip the ,hardy1 the great ,duke of ,burgundy1 in ordering a tapestry1 signed the order1 not with his autograph1 for he could not1 but with his mark1 for he1 too1 left pen-work to the clerks of the church4 ,that pile of concentrated royal history1 the old abbey of ,st4 ,denis1 received1 late in the ,tenth ,century1 one of the evidences of royal patronage that every abbey must have envied4 ,it was a woven representation of the world1 as scientists of that day imagined our half-discovered planet1 and was presented by ,queen ,adelaide1 the wife of ,hugh ,capet1 whose descendants reigned for three hundred years4#c ,while dealing with records rather than with objects on which the eye can gaze and the hand can rest1 note must be made of an order of a ,count of ,poitou1 ,william ,v1 to a factory for tapestries then existing in ,poitiers1 showing that the art of weaving had in that spot jumped the monastery walls in #ajbe4d ,the order was for a large hanging with subjects taken from the ,scriptures1 but given the then modern touch by introducing portraits of kings and emperors and their favourite animals transfixed in ways peculiar to the nature of the day4 ,a century later1 another ,abbot of ,st4 ,florent in ,saumur had hangings made important enough to be recorded4 ,one of these represented the four and twenty elders of the ,apocalypse with musical instruments1 and other subjects taken from the ,revelation of ,john4 ,this subject was one of unending interest to the artists of that time who seemed to find in its depicting a serving of both ,god and imagination4 ,among the few tapestries of this period1 those of the ,cathedral at ,halberstadt must be mentioned1 partly by way of conscientious chronicling1 partly that the interested traveller may1 as he travels1 know where to find the rare specimens of the hobby he is pursuing4 ,this is a high-warp tapestry which authorities variously place as the product of the ,eleventh or the ,twelfth ,centuries4 ,entirely regardless of its age1 it has for us the charm of the craft of hands long vanished1 and of primitive art in all its simplicity of artifice4 ,the subject is religious--could hardly have been otherwise in those monastic days--and for church decoration1 and to fit the space they were woven to occupy1 each of the two parts was but three and a half feet high although more than fourteen yards long4 ,each important event recorded in history has its expression in the material product of its time1 and this is one of the charms of studying the liberal arts4 ,tapestry more than almost any other handicraft has left us a pictured history of events in a time when records were scarce4 ,the effect of the ,crusades was noticeable in the impetus it gave to tapestry1 not only by bringing ,europe into fresh contact with ,oriental design but by increasing the desire for luxurious stuffs4 ,the returning crusaders--what traveller's tales did they not tell of the fabrics of the great ,oriental sovereigns and their subjects1 the soft rugs1 the tent coverings1 the gorgeous raiment2 and these tales they illustrated with what fragments they could port in their travellers' packs4 ,here lay inspiration for a continent4 ,,footnotes3 #a ,eugene ,muentz1 ,history of ,tapestry4 #b ,jubinal1 ,recherches1 ,vol4 ,i4 #c ,f4 ,michel1 ,recherches4 #d ,jubinal1 ,recherches4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,modern ,,awakening ,in the ,fourteenth ,century1 tapestry1 the high-warp product1 began to play an important part in the refinements of the day4 ,we have seen the tendency of the past time to embellish and soften churches and monastic institutions with hangings4 ,records mostly in clerical ,latin1 speak of these as curtains for doorways1 dossers for covering seats1 and the backs of benches1 and baldachins1 as well as carpets for use on the floor4 ,subjects were ecclesiastic1 as the favourite ,apocalypse2 or classic1 like that of the ,quedlimburg hanging which fantastically represents the marriage of ,mercury and ,philology4 ,but in the ,thirteenth ,century the political situation had improved and men no longer slept in armour and women no longer were prepared to thrust all household valuables into a coffer on notice that the enemy was approaching over the plains or up the rocks4 ,therefore1 homes began to be a little less rude in their comforts4 ,stone walls were very much the rule inside as well as out1 but it became convenient then to cover their grim asperities with the woven draperies1 the remains of which so interest us to-day1 and which we in our accession of luxuriousness would add to the already gently finished apartments4 ,to put ourselves back into one of those castle homes we are to imagine a room of stone walls1 fitted with big iron hooks1 on which hung pictured tapestry which reached all around1 even covering the doors in its completeness4 ,to admit of passing in and out the door a slit was made1 or two tapestries joined at this spot4 ,set ,gothic furniture scantily about such a room1 a coffer or two1 some high-backed chairs1 a generous table1 and there is a room which the art of to-day with its multiple ingenuity cannot surpass for beauty and repose4 ,but such a room gave opportunity for other matters in the ,thirteenth ,century4 ,customs were less polite and morals more primitive4 ,important people desiring important information were given to the spying and eavesdropping which now has passed out of polite fashion4 ,and those ancient rooms favoured the intriguer1 for the hangings were suspended a foot or two away from the wall1 and a man or a woman1 for that matter1 might easily slip behind and witness conversations to which the listener had not been invited4 ,so it was customary on occasions of intimate and secret converse lightly to thrust a sharpened blade behind the curtains4 ,if1 as in the case in ,hamlet1 the sword pierced a human quarry1 so much the worse for the listener who thus gained death and lost its dignity4 ,before leaving this ancient chamber it is well to impress ourselves with the interesting fact that tapestries were originally meant to be suspended loosely1 liberally1 from the upper edge only1 and to fall in folds or gentle undulations1 thus gaining in decorative value and elegance4 ,this practice had an important effect on the design1 and also gave an appearance of movement to human figures and to foliage1 as each swayed in light folds4 ,when considering tapestries of the ,thirteenth ,century we are only contemplating the stones of history1 for the actual products of the looms of that time are not for us2 they are all gathered into museums1 public or ecclesiastic4 ,the same might be said of tapestries of the ,fourteenth ,century1 and almost of the ,fifteenth4 ,but those old times are so full of romance1 that their history is worth our toying with4 ,it adds infinite joy to the possessing of old tapestries1 and converts museum visits into a keen chase for the elusive but fascinating figures of the past4 ,let us then absorb willingly one or two dry facts4 ,high-warp tapestry we have traced lightly from ,egypt through ,greece and ,rome and1 almost losing the thread in the ,middle ,ages1 have seen it rising a virile industry1 nursed in monasteries4 ,it was when the stirrings of artistic life were commencing under the ,van ,eycks in the ,north and under ,giotto and the ,tuscans in the ,south that the weaving of tapestries reached a high standard of production and from that time until the ,nineteenth ,century has been an important artistic craft4 ,the ,thirteenth ,century saw it started1 the ,fourteenth saw the beginnings of important factories1 and the ,fifteenth bloomed into full productions and beauty of the style we call ,gothic4 ,in these early times of the close of the ,thirteenth ,century and the beginning of the ,fourteenth1 the best known high-warp factories were centred in northern and midland provinces of ,france and ,flanders1 ,paris and ,arras being the towns most famed for their productions4 ,as these were able to supply the rest of ,europe1 the skilled technique was lost otherwheres1 so that later1 when ,italy1 ,germany and ,england wished to catch up again their ancient work1 they were obliged to ask instruction of the ,franco-,flemish high-warp workers4#e ,it is not possible in the light of history for either ,paris or ,arras to claim the invention of so nearly a prehistoric art as that of high-warp tapestry1 and there is much discussion as to which of these cities should be given the honour of superiority and priority in the work of the ,twelfth and ,thirteenth ,centuries4 ,factories existed at both places and each had its rules of manufacture which regulated the workman and stimulated its excellence4 ,the factories at ,paris1 however1 were more given to producing copies of carpets brought from the ,east by returning crusaders1 and these were intended for floors4 ,the craftsmen were sometimes alluded to as tapissiers ,sarrazinois1 named1 as is easily seen1 after the ,saracens who played so large a part in the adventurous voyages of the day4 ,but in ,paris in #acjb1 by instigation of the ,provost ,pierre le ,jumeau1 there were associated with these tapissiers or workmen1 ten others1 for the purpose of making high-warp tapestry1 and these were bound with all sorts of oaths not to depart from the strict manner of proceeding in this valued handicraft4 ,indeed1 the ,articles of ,faith1 nor the ,vows of the ,rosicrucians1 could not be more inviolable than the promises demanded of the early tapestry workers4 ,in some cases--notably a factory of ,brussels1 ,brabant1 in the ,sixteenth ,century--there were frightful penalties attendant upon the breaking of these vows1 like the loss of an ear or even of a hand4 ,the records of the undertaking of the ,provost ,pierre le ,jumeau in introducing the high-warp 7haute lisse7 workers into the factory where ,sarrazinois and other fabrics were produced1 means only that the improvement had begun1 but not that ,paris had never before practised an art so ancient4 ,the name of ,nicolas ,bataille is one of the earliest which we can surround with those props of records that please the searcher for exact detail4#f ,he was both manufacturer and merchant and was a man of ,paris in the reign of ,charles ,,vi1 a king who patronised him so well that the workshops of ,paris benefited largely4 ,the king's brother becoming envious1 tried to equal him in personal magnificence and gave orders almost as large as those of the king4 ,philip the ,hardy1 uncle of the king1 also employed this designer whose importance has not lessened in the descent of the centuries4 ,what makes ,bataille of special interest to us is that we cannot only read of him in fascinating chronicles as well as dry histories1 but we can ourselves see his wondrous works4 ,in the cathedral at ,angers hangs a tapestry executed by him2 it is a part of the ,apocalypse 7favourite subject7 drawn by ,dourdin1 who was artist of the cartoons as well as artist to ,charles ,v4 ,in those days the weaver occupied much the same place in relation to the cartoonist as the etcher does now to the painter4 ,that is to say1 that because the drawing was his inspiration1 the weaver was none the less an artist of originality and talent4 ,these celebrated hangings at ,angers1 although commenced in #acgf for ,louis of ,anjou1 were not completed in all the series until #adij1 therefore ,bataille's work was on the first ones1 finished on ,christmas1 #acgi4 ,the design includes imposing figures1 each seated on a ,gothic throne reading and meditating4 ,the larger scenes are topped with charming figures of angels in primitive skies of the twisted ribbon style of cloud1 angels whose duty and whose joy is to trump eternally and float in defiance of natural laws of gravitation4 ,the museum at the ,gobelins factory in ,paris shows to wondering eyes the other authentic example of late ,fourteenth ,century high-warp tapestry1 as woven in the early ,paris workshops4 ,it portrays with a lovely naive simplicity ,the ,presentation in the ,temple4 ,this with the pieces of the ,apocalypse at ,angers are all that are positively known to have come from the ,paris workshops of the late ,fourteenth ,century4 ,history steps in with an event that crushed the industry in ,paris4 ,just when design and execution were at their highest excellence1 and production was prolific1 political events began to annihilate the trade4 ,the ,english ,king1 ,henry ,v1 crossed the ,channel and occupied ,paris in #adbb4 ,thus1 under the oppression of the invaders1 the art of tapestry was discouraged and fell by the way1 not to rise lustily again in ,paris for two hundred years4 ,,footnotes3 #e ,eugene ,muentz1 ,la ,tapisserie4 #f ,for extensive reading see ,guiffrey1 ,nicolas ,bataille1 tapissier parisien1 and ,l',histoire ,general de la ,tapisserie1 the section called ,les ,tapisseries ,francaises4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,fifteenth ,,century ,,in ,,france ,,and ,,flanders ,whether ,arras began as early as ,paris is a question better left unsettled if only for the sake of furnishing a subject of happy controversy between the champions of the two opinions4 ,but certain it is that with fewer distractions to disturb her craftsmen1 and under the stimulus of certain ducal and royal patrons1 ,arras succeeded in advancing the art more than did her celebrated neighbour4 ,it was ,arras1 too1 that gave the name to the fabric1 a name which appears in ,england as arras and in ,italy as arazzo1 as though there was no other parent-region for the much-needed and much-prized stuffs than the busy ,flemish town4 ,among the early records is found proof that in #acaa1 a countess of the province of ,artois1 of which ,arras was the capital1 bought a figured cloth in that city1 and two years later ordered various works in high warp4#g ,it is she who became ruler of the province4 ,to patronise the busy town of her own domains1 ,arras1 she ordered from there the hangings that were its specialty4 ,paris also shared her patronage4 ,she took as husband ,otho1 ,count of ,burgundy1 and set his great family the fashion in the way of patronising the tapestry looms4 ,it was in the time of ,charles ,v of ,france1 that the ,burgundian duke ,philip1 called the ,hardy1 began to patronise conspicuously the ,arras factories4 ,in #acic1 as de ,barante delightfully chronicles1 the gorgeous equipments of this duke were more than amazing when he went to arrange peace with the ,english at ,lelingien4#h ,the town chosen for the pourparlers1 wherein assembled the ,english dukes1 ,lancaster and ,gloucester and their attendants1 as well as the cortege attending the ,duke of ,burgundy1 was a poor little village ruined by wars4 ,the conferences were held by these superb old fighters and statesmen in an ancient thatched chapel4 ,to make it presentable and worthy of the nobles1 it was covered with tapestries which entirely hid the ruined walls4 ,the subject of the superb pieces was a series of battles1 which made the ,duke of ,lancaster whimsically critical of a subject ill-chosen for a peace conference1 he suggesting that it were better to have represented la ,passion de notre ,seigneur4 ,not satisfied with having the meeting place a gorgeous and luxurious temple1 this ,philip1 ,duke of ,burgundy1 demonstrated his magnificence in his own tent1 which was made of wooden planks entirely covered with toiles peintes 7authorities state that tapestries with personages were thus described71 and was in form of a chateau flanked with towers4 ,as a means of pleasing the ,english dukes and the principal envoys1 ,philip gave to them superb gifts of tapestries1 the beautiful tapestries of ,flanders such as were made only in the territory of the duke4 ,it is interesting to note this authentic account of the importation of certain ,arras tapestries into ,england4 ,subjects at this time introduced1 besides ,bible people1 figures of ,clovis and of ,charlemagne4 ,two hangings represented1 the one ,the ,seven ,cardinal ,vices1 with their conspicuous royal exponents in the shape of seven vicious kings and emperors2 the other1 ,the ,seven ,cardinal ,virtues1 with the royalties who had been their notable exponents4 ,here is a frank criticism on the lives of kings which smacks of latter-day democracy4 ,all these tapestries were enriched with gold of ,cyprus1 as gold threads were called4 ,this same magnificent ,philip the ,hardy1 had other treaties to make later on1 and seeing how much his tapestries were appreciated1 continued to make presents of them4 ,one time it was the ,duke of ,brittany who had to be propitiated1 all in the interests of peace1 peace being a quality much sought and but little experienced at this time in ,france4 ,perhaps this especial ,burgundian duke had a bit of self-interest in his desire for amity with the ,english1 for he was lord of the ,comite of ,artois 7including ,arras7 and this was a district which1 because of its heavy commerce with ,england1 might favour that country4 ,a large part of that commerce was wool for tapestry weaving1 wool which came from the pres sales of ,kent1 where to-day are seen the same meadows1 salt with ocean spray and breezes1 whereon flocks are grazing now as of old--but this time more for mutton chops than for tapestry wools4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,sacraments ,arras ,tapestry1 about #adcj4 ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york ,the history of the ,dukes of ,burgundy1 because their patronage was so stimulating to the factories of ,flanders1 leads us to recall the horrors of the war with ,bajazet1 the terrible ,sultan of ,turkey1 and the way in which this cool monster bartered human lives for human luxuries4 ,it was when the flower of ,france 7#acif7 invaded his country and was in the power of his hand1 that he had the brave company of nobles pass in review before his royal couch that he might see them mutilated to the death4 ,three or four only he retained alive1 then sent one of these1 the ,sire de ,helly1 back to his ,france with parole d'honneur to return--to amass1 first1 as big a ransom as could be raised2 this1 if in the ,turk's demanding eyes it appeared sufficient1 he would accept in exchange for the remaining unhappy nobles4 ,added to the money which de ,helly was able to collect1 were superb tapestries of ,arras contributed by the ,burgundian duke1 ,philip the ,hardy4 ,it was argued that of these luxurious hangings1 ,bajazet had none1 for the looms of his country had not the craft to make tapestries of personages4 ,cloth of gold and of silver1 considered an extreme elegance in ,france1 they argued was no rarity to the terrible ,turk1 for it was from ,damascus in his part of the world that this precious fabric came most plentifully4 ,so de ,helly took ,arras tapestries into ,turkey1 a suite representing the history of ,alexander the ,great1 and the avaricious monarch was persuaded by reason of this and other ransom to let his prisoners free4#i ,after the death of ,philip the ,hardy in #adjd1 his accumulated luxuries had to be sold to help pay his fabulous debts4 ,to this end his son sold1 among other things1 his superb tapestries1 and thus they became distributed in ,paris4 ,and yet ,john without ,fear1 who succeeded ,philip1 continued to stimulate the ,arras weavers4 ,in #adji he ordered five big hangings representing his victories of ,liege1 all battle subjects4#aj ,philip the ,good was the next head of the ,burgundian house1 and he it was who assisted in the sumptuous preparations for the entry of the king1 ,louis ,,xi1 into ,paris4 ,the king himself could scarcely equal in magnificence this much-jewelled duke1 whose splendour was a matter of excitement to the populace4 ,people ran to see him in the streets or to the church1 to feast their eyes on his cortege1 his mounted escort of a hundred knights who were themselves dukes1 princes and other nobles4 ,his house1 in the old quarter of ,paris1 where we are wont to wander with a ,baedeker veiled1 was the wonder of all who were permitted to view its interior4 ,here he had brought his magnificent ,arras tapestries and among them the set of the ,history of ,gideon1 which he had had made in honour of the order of the ,golden ,fleece founded by him at ,bruges1 in #adbi1 for1 he said1 the tale of ,gideon was more appropriate to the ,fleece than the tale of ,jason1 who had not kept his trust--a bit of unconventionalism appreciable even at this distance of time4 ,charles le ,temeraire--the ,bold or rather the foolhardy--how he used and lost his tapestries is of interest to us1 because his possessions fell into a place where we can see them by taking a little trouble4 ,some of them are among the treasures in the museum at ,nancy and at ,berne in ,switzerland4 ,how they got there is in itself a matter of history1 the history of a war between ,burgundy and ,switzerland4 ,like all the line of these half-barbaric1 picturesque dukes1 ,charles could not disassociate himself from magnificence1 which in those days took the place of comfort4 ,when making war1 he endeavoured to have his camp lodgment as near as possible reproduce the elegance of his home4 ,in his campaign against ,switzerland1 his tent was entirely hung with the most magnificent of tapestries4 ,after foolhardy onslaughts on a people whose strength he miscalculated1 he lost his battles1 his life--and his tapestries4 ,and this is how certain ,burgundian tapestries hang in the cathedral at ,berne1 and in the museums at ,nancy4#aa ,the simple ,swiss mountaineers1 accustomed more to expediency than to luxury1 are said to have been entirely ignorant of the value of their spoils of war4 ,tapestries they had never seen1 nor had they the experienced eye to discern their beauties2 but cloth1 thick woollen cloth1 that would protect shivering man from the cold1 was a commodity most useful2 so1 many of the fine products of the high-warp looms that had augmented the pride of their noble possessor1 found their way into shops and were sold to the ,swiss populace in any desired length1 according to bourgeois household needs1 a length for a warm bed-cover1 or a square for a table2 and thus disappeared so many that we are thankful for the few whole hangings of that time which are ours to inspect1 and which represent the best work of the day both from ,arras and from ,brussels1 which was then 7about #adgf7 beginning to produce4 ,there is a special and local reason why we should be interested in the products of the high-warp tapestries in the time of the greatest power of the ,dukes of ,burgundy4 ,it is that we can have the happy experience of studying1 in our own country1 a set of these hangings1 and this without going farther than to the ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art in ,new ,york1 where repose the set called ,the ,sacraments4 7,plates facing pages #cd1 #ch and #ci47 ,there are in all seven pieces1 although the grounds are well taken that the set originally included one more4 ,they represent the four ,sacraments of ,baptism1 ,marriage1 ,confirmation and ,extreme ,unction1 first by a series of ideal representations1 then by the everyday ceremonies of the time--the time of ,joan of ,arc4 ,thus we have the early ,fifteenth ,century folk unveiled to us in their ideals and in their practicality4 ,the one shows them to be religionists of a high order1 the other reveals a sumptuous and elegant scale of living belonging to the nobility who made resplendent those early times4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,sacraments ,arras ,tapestry1 about #adcj ,illustration3 ,,the ,,sacraments ,arras ,tapestry1 about #adcj ,the drawing is full of simplicity and honesty1 the composition limited to a few individuals1 each one having its place of importance4 ,in this1 the early work differed from the later1 which multiplied figures until whole groups counted no more than individuals4 ,the background is a field of conventionalised fleur-de-lis of so large a pattern as not to interfere with the details thrown against it4 ,scenes are divided by slender ,gothic columns1 and other architectural features are tessellated floors and a sketchy sort of brick-work that appears wherever a limit-line is needed4 ,it is the charming naivete of its drawing that delights4 ,border there is none1 but its lack is never felt1 for the pictures are of such interest that the eye needs no barrier to keep it from wandering4 ,whatever border is found is a varying structure of architecture and of lettering and of the happy flowers of ,gothic times which thrust their charm into all possible and impossible places4 ,the dress1 in the suite of ideals1 is created by the imagining of the artist1 admixed with the fashion of the day2 but in scenes portraying life of the moment1 we are given an interesting idea of how a bride a la mode was arrayed1 in what manner a gay young lord dressed himself on his wedding morning1 and how a young mother draped her proud brocade4 ,the colouring is that of ancient stained glass1 simple1 rich1 the gamut of colours limited1 but the manner of their combining is infinite in its power to please4 ,the conscientiousness of the ancient dyer lives after him through the centuries1 and the fresh ruby-colour1 the golden yellow of the large-figured brocades1 glow almost as richly now as they did when the ,burgundian dukes were marching up and down the land from the ,mediterranean1 east of ,france1 to the coast of ,flanders1 carrying with them the woven pictures of their ideals1 their religion and their conquests4 ,the weave is smooth and even1 speaking for the work of the tapissier or weaver1 although time has distorted the faces beyond the lines of absolute beauty2 and hatching accomplishes the shading4 ,the repairer has been at work on this valuable set1 not the intelligent restorer1 but the frank bungler who has not hesitated to turn certain pieces wrong side out1 nor to set in large sections obviously cut from another tapestry4 ,it is surmised that the set contained one more piece--it would be regrettable1 indeed1 if that missing square had been cut up for repairs4 ,the ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art in ,new ,york owns these tapestries through the altruistic generosity of ,j4 ,pierpont ,morgan1 ,esq4 ,they are the most interesting primitive work which are on public view in our country1 and awake to enthusiasm even the most insensate dullard1 who has a half hour to stand before them and realise all they mean in art1 in morals and in history4 ,to the lives of the ,prophets and ,saints we can always turn2 from the romance of men and women we can never turn away4 ,and so when a ,gothic tapestry is found that frankly omits ,biblical folk and gives us a true picture of men and women of the almost impenetrable time back of the fifteen hundreds1 tells us what they wore1 in what manner they comported themselves1 that tapestry has a sure and peculiar value4 ,the surviving art of the ,middle ,ages smacks strong of saints1 paints at full length the people of ,moses' time1 but unhappily gives only a bust of their contemporaries4 ,illustration3 ,,fifteenth ,,century ,,french ,,tapestry ,boston ,museum of ,fine ,arts ,illustration3 ,,the ,,life ,,of ,,christ ,flemish ,tapestry1 second half of ,fifteenth ,century4 ,boston ,museum of ,fine ,arts ,hangings portraying secular subjects were less often woven than those of religion and morals1 but also the former have less lustily outlived the centuries1 owing to the habit of tearing them from the suspending hooks and packing them about from chateau to chateau1 to soften surroundings for the wandering visitor4 ,thus it comes that we have little tapestried record of a time when knights and ladies and ill-assorted attributes walked hand in hand1 a time of chivalry and cruelty1 of roses and war1 of sumptuousness and crudity1 of privation and indulgence1 of simplicity and deceit4 ,if prowling among old books has tempted the hand to take from the shelves one of those quaint luxuries known as a ,book of ,hours1 there before the eye lies the spirit of that age in decoration and design4 ,there1 too1 lies much of the old spirit of morality--that1 whether genuine or affected1 was bound to be expressed4 ,morality had a vogue in those days1 was a sine qua non of fashion4 ,that famous amateur ,jean1 duc de ,berry1 uncle of ,charles ,,vi of ,france1 had such a book1 ,les ,tres ,riches ,heures2 one was possessed by that gifted ,milanese lady whom ,ludovico ,sforza put out of the line of ,lombardy's throne4 ,the wonderful ,gothic ingenuousness lies in their careful paintings1 the ingenuousness where virtue is expressed by beauty1 and vice by ugliness1 and where1 with delightful seriousness1 standing figures overtop the houses they occupy--the same people1 the same battlements1 we have seen on the early tapestries4 ,weavers must surely have consulted the lovely books of ,gothic miniature1 so like is the spirit of the designs to that in the ,gothic fabrics4 ,the beauties of ,agnes ,sorel were represented on the wool1 says ,jubinal1 and she herself gave a superb and magnificent tapestry to the church at ,loches1 but this quaint student is doubtful if the lovely amante du roi actually gave the tapestries that set forth her own beauties1 which beauty all can see in the quiet marble as she lies sleeping with her spaniel curled up at her lovely feet in the big chateau on the ,loire4 ,by means of a rare set bought by the ,rogers ,fund for the ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art in ,new ,york1 we can see1 if not the actual tapestries of fair ,agnes ,sorel1 at least those of the same epoch and manner4 ,this set is called ,the ,baillee des ,roses and comprises three pieces1 fragments one is inclined to call them1 seeing the mutilations of the ages4 7,plate facing page #db47 ,they were woven probably before #adej1 probably in ,france1 undoubtedly from ,french drawings1 for the hand and eye of the artist were evidently under the influence of the celebrated miniaturist1 ,jean ,fouquet of ,tours4 ,childlike is the charm of this careful artist of olden times1 childlike is his simplicity1 his honesty1 his care to retain the fundamental virtues of a good little boy who lives to the tune of ,eternal ,verities4 ,these three tapestries of the ,roses illustrate so well so many things characteristic of their day1 that it is not time lost to study them with an eye to all their points4 ,there is the weave1 the wool1 the introduction of metal threads1 the colour scale2 all these besides the design and the story it tells4 ,the tapestries represent a custom of ,france in the time when ,charles ,,vii1 the ,indolent 7and likewise through ,jeanne d',arc1 the victorious7 had as his favourite the fascinating ,agnes ,sorel4 ,during the late spring1 when the roses of ,france are in fullest flower1 various peers of ,france had as political duty to present to each member of the ,parliament a rose when the members answered in response to roll call4 ,illustration3 ,,la ,,baillee ,,des ,,roses ,french ,tapestry1 about #adej4 ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york ,illustration3 ,,fifteenth ,,century ,,millefleur ,,with ,,arms ,cathedral of ,troyes ,the great chamber where the body met was for the occasion transformed into a bower2 vines and sprays of roses covered all the grim walls1 as the straying vines in the tapestry reveal4 ,the host of the day1 who might be a foreign prince or cardinal1 or one of the children of ,france1 began the day with giving a great breakfast which took place in the several chambers4 ,during the feast the noble host paid a courtly visit to each chamber1 accompanied by a servitor who bore a huge salver on which were the flowers and souvenirs to be presented4 ,the air was sweet with blossoms and pungent herbs1 music penetrated from the halls outside as the man of conspicuous elegance played mock humility and served all with the dainty tribute of a fragrant tender rose4 ,this part of the ceremony over1 the company moved on to the great audience chamber1 where mass was said4 ,our tapestries show the figures of ladies and gentlemen present at this pretty ceremony--too pretty to associate with desperate ,jeanne d',arc1 who at that very time was rousing ,france to war to throw off the foreign yoke4 ,the ladies fair and masters bold are intensely human little people1 for the most part paired off in couples as men and women have been wont to pair in gardens since ,eden's time4 ,they are dressed in their best1 that is evident1 and by their distant1 courteous manners show good society4 ,the faces of the ladies are childlike1 dutiful2 those of the men more determined1 after the manner of men4 ,but the interest of the set centres in the tableau wherein are but three figures1 those of two men and a woman4 ,here lies a piquant romance4 ,who is she1 the grand and gracious lady1 bending like a lily stalk among the roses1 with a man on either side8 ,a token is being exchanged between her and the supplicant at her right4 ,he1 wholly elegant1 half afraid1 bends the knee and fixes her with a regard into which his whole soul is thrown4 ,she1 fair lady1 is inclining1 yet withdrawing1 eyes of fear and modesty cast down4 ,yet whatever of temerity the faces tell1 the hands are carrying out a comedy4 ,hid in the shadow of a copious hat1 which the gentleman extends1 lurks a rose2 proffered by the lady's hand is a token--fair exchange1 indeed1 of lover's symbols--provided the strong1 hard man to the left of the lady has himself no right of command over her and her favours4 ,thus might one dream on forever over history's sweets and romance's gallantries4 ,it is across the sea1 in the sympathetic ,museum of ,cluny that the beauty of early ,french work is exquisitely demonstrated4 ,the set of ,the ,lady and the ,unicorn is one of infinite charm4 7,plates facing pages #dd and #de47 ,in its enchanted wood lives a noble lady tall and fair1 lithe1 young and elegant1 with attendant maid and two faithful1 fabulous beasts that uphold the standards of maidenhood4 ,a simple circle denotes the boundary of the enchanted land wherein she dwells1 a park with noble trees and lovely flowers1 among which disport the little animals that associate themselves with mankind4 ,for four centuries these hangings have delighted the eye of man1 and are perhaps more than ever appreciated now4 ,certain it is that the art student's easel is often set before them for copying the quaint design and soft colour4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,lady ,,and ,,the ,,unicorn ,french ,tapestry1 ,fifteenth ,century4 ,musee de ,cluny1 ,paris ,illustration3 ,,the ,,lady ,,and ,,the ,,unicorn ,french ,tapestry1 ,fifteenth ,century4 ,musee de ,cluny1 ,paris ,as the early worker in wools could not forget the beauties of earth1 the foreground of many ,gothic tapestries is sprinkled with the loved common flowers of every day1 of the field and wood4 ,this is one of the charming touches in early tapestry1 these little flowers that thrust themselves with captivating inappropriateness into every sort of scene4 ,the grave and awesome figures in the ,apocalypse find them at their feet1 and in scenes of battle they adorn the sanguinary sod and twinkle between fierce combatants4 ,occasionally a weaver goes mad about them and refuses to produce anything else but lily-bells newly sprung in ,june1 cowslips and daisies pied1 rosemary and rue1 and all these in decorous courtesy on a deep1 dark background like twilight on a bank or moonlight in a dell--and lo1 we have the marvellous bit of nature-painting called millefleurs4 ,a ,burgundian tapestry that has come to this country to add to our increasing riches1 is the large hanging known as ,the ,sack of ,jerusalem4 7,plate facing page #df47 ,almost more than any other it revivifies the ancient times of ,philip the ,hardy1 ,john without ,fear1 and ,charles the ,bold1 when these dukes1 who were monarchs in all but name1 were leading lives that make our own ,twentieth ,century fretting seem but the unrest of aspens4 ,such hangings as this1 ,the ,sack of ,jerusalem1 were those that the great ,burgundian dukes had hung about their tents in battle1 their castles in peace1 their facades and bridges in fetes4 ,the subject chosen hints religion1 but shouts bloodshed and battle4 ,those who like to feel the texture of old tapestries would find this soft and pliable1 and in wondrous state of preservation4 ,its colours are warm and fresh1 adhering to red-browns and brown-reds and a general mellow tone differing from the sharp stained-glass contrasts noticed in ,the ,sacraments4 ,costumes show a naive compromise between those the artist knew in his own time and those he guessed to appertain to the year of our ,lord #gj1 when the scene depicted was actually occurring4 ,the tapestry resembles in many ways the famous tapestries of the ,duke of ,devonshire which are known as the ,hardwick ,hall tapestries4 ,in drawing it is similar1 in massing1 in the placing of spots of interest4 ,this large hanging is a part of the collection at the ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art in ,new ,york4 ,the ,boston ,museum of ,fine ,arts exhibits a primitive hanging which is probably woven in ,france1 ,northern ,france1 at the end of the ,fifteenth ,century4 7,plate facing page #dj47 ,it represents1 in two panels1 the power of the church to drive out demons and to confound the heathen4 ,fault can be found with its crudity of drawing and weave1 but tapestries of this epoch can hold a position of interest in spite of faults4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,sack ,,of ,,jerusalem 7,,detail7 ,burgundian ,tapestry1 about #adej4 ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york ,a fine piece at the same museum is the long1 narrow hanging representing scenes from the life of ,christ1 with a scene from ,paradise to start the drama4 7,plate facing page #da47 ,this tapestry1 which is of great beauty1 is subdivided into four panels by slender columns suggesting a springing arch which the cloth was too low to carry4 ,all the pretty ,gothic signs are here4 ,the simple flowers upspringing1 the ,gothic lettering1 the panelling1 and a narrow border of such design as suggests rose-windows or other lace-like carving4 ,here is noticeable1 too1 the sumptuous brocades in figures far too large for the human form to wear1 figures which diminished greatly a very few decades later4 ,the ,institute of ,art1 ,chicago1 possesses an interesting piece of the period showing another treatment of a similar subject4 7,plate facing page #dh47 ,in this the columns are omitted1 the planes are increased1 and there is an entire absence of the triptych or altar-piece style of drawing which we associate with the primitive artists in painting4 ,we have seen in this slight review that ,paris was in a fair way to cover the castle walls and floors of noble lords with her high loom and sarrazinois products1 when the ,english occupation ruined the prosperity of the weaver's guild4 ,arras supplied the enormous demand for tapestries through ,europe1 and made a lasting fame4 ,but this little city1 too1 had to go down before the hard conditions of the ,conqueror4 ,louis ,,xi1 in #adgg1 possessed himself of the town after the death of the last-famed ,burgundian duke1 ,charles the ,bold1 and under his eccentric persecutions the guild of weavers scattered4 ,he saw too late his mistake4 ,but other towns benefited by it1 towns whither the tapissiers fled with their art4 ,there had also been much trouble between the last ,duke of ,burgundy and his ,flemish cities4 ,his extravagances and expeditions led him to make extraordinary demands upon one town and another for funds1 and even to make war upon them1 as at ,liege1 the battles of which conflict were perpetuated in tapestries4 ,let us trust that no ,liegois weaver was forced to the humiliation of weaving this set4 ,this disposition to work to his own ultimate undoing was encouraged in the duke1 wherever possible1 by the crafty ,louis ,,xi1 who had his own reasons for wishing the downfall of so powerful a neighbour4 ,and thus it came that ,arras1 the great tapestry centre1 was at first weakened1 then destroyed by the capture of the town by ,louis ,,xi immediately after the tragic death of the duke in #adgg4 ,thus everything was favourable to the ,brussels factories1 which began to produce those marvels of workmanship that force from the world the sincerest admiration4 ,it is frankly asserted that toward the end of the century1 or more accurately1 during the reigns of ,charles ,,viii and ,louis ,,xii 7#adhc-aeae71 tapestry attained a degree of perfection which has never been surpassed4 ,illustration3 ,,scenes ,,from ,,the ,,life ,,of ,,christ1 ,,with ,,armorial ,,shields ,flemish ,tapestry1 ,fifteenth ,century4 ,institute of ,art1 ,chicago ,illustration3 ,,history ,,of ,,the ,,virgin ,angers ,cathedral ,we have a very clear idea of what use to make of tapestries in these days--to hang them in a part of the house where they will be much seen and much protected1 on an important wall-space where their figures become the friend of daily life1 or the bosky shades of their verdure invite to revery4 ,they are extended flat against the wall1 or even framed1 that not one stroke of the artist's pencil or one flash of the weaver's shuttle be hid4 ,but1 many were their uses and grand were their purposes in the days when high-warp and low-warp weaving was the important industry of whole provinces4 ,palaces and castles were hung with them1 but apart from this was the sumptuous use of a reserve of hangings for outdoor fetes and celebrations of all sorts4 ,these were the great opportunities for all to exhibit their possessions and to make a street look almost as elegant and habitable as the grandest chamber of the king4 ,on the occasion of the entry of a certain queen into ,paris1 all the way from ,porte ,st4 ,denis to the ,cathedral of ,notre ,dame was hung with such specimens of the weaver's art as would make the heart of the modern amateur throb wildly4 ,they were hung from windows1 draped across the fronts of the houses1 and fluttered their bright colours in the face of an illuminating sun that yet had no power to fade the conscientious work of the craftsman4 ,the high lights of silk in the weave1 and the enrichment of gold and silver in the pattern caught and held the sunbeams4 ,in all the cavalcade of mounted knights and ladies1 there was the flashing of arms1 the gleam of jewelled bridles1 the flaunting of rich stuffs1 all with a background of unsurpassed blending of colour and texture4 ,the bridge over the ,seine leading to ,notre ,dame1 its ramparts were entirely concealed1 its asperities softened1 by the tapestries which hung over its sides1 making the passage over the river like the approach to a throne1 the luxury of kings combined with the beauty of the flowing river1 the blue sky1 the tender green of the trees4 ,indeed1 it was so lovely a sight that the king himself was not content to see it from his honoured but restricted post1 but needs must doff his crown--monarchs wore them in those fairy days--and fling a leg over a gentleman's charger1 behind its owner1 and thus ride double to see the sights4 ,so great was his eagerness to enjoy all the display that he got a smart reproof from an officer of ceremonies for trespassing4#ab ,when ,louis ,,xi was the young king1 and had not yet developed the taste for bloodshed and torture that as a crafty fox he used later to the horror of his nation1 he1 too1 had similar festivals with similar decorations4 ,on one occasion the ,pont des ,changes was made the chief point in the royal progress through the streets of ,paris4 ,the bridge was hung with superb tapestries of great size1 from end to end1 and the king rode to it on a white charger1 his trappings set with turquoise1 with a gorgeous canopy supported over his head4 ,just as he reached the bridge the air became full of the music of singing birds1 twenty-five hundred of them at that moment released1 and all fluttering1 darting1 singing amid the gorgeous scene to tickle the fancy of a king4 ,illustration3 ,,david ,,and ,,bathsheba ,german ,tapestry1 about #adej ,illustration3 ,,flemish ,,tapestry4 ,,about #aejj ,collection of ,alfred ,w4 ,hoyt1 ,esq4 ,,footnotes3 #g ,canon de ,haisnes1 ,la ,tapisserie4 #h ,m4 de ,barante1 ,histoire des ,ducs de ,bourgogne4 #i ,froissart1 manuscript of the library of ,dijon4 #aj ,de ,barante1 ,histoire4 #aa ,see ,m4 ,pinchart1 ,roger van der ,weyden et les ,tapisseries de ,berne4 #ab ,enguerrand de ,monstrelet1 ,chronicles4 ,,chapter ,v ,,high ,,gothic ,the wonderful time of the ,burgundian dukes is gone2 ,charles le ,temeraire leaves the world at ,nancy1 where the pitying have set up a cross in memory of his unkingly death1 and where the lover of things ,gothic may wander down a certain way to the exquisite portico of the ,ducal ,palace and1 entering1 find the ,gothic room where the duke's precious tapestries are hung4 ,in this sympathetic atmosphere one may dream away hours in sheer joy of association with these shadowy hosts of the past1 the relentless slayers in the battle scenes1 relentless moralists in the religious subjects--for morality plays had a parallel in the morality tapestry1 issuing such rigid warnings to those who make merry as is seen in ,the ,condemnation of ,suppers and ,banquets1 ,the ,reward of ,virtue1 ,the ,triumph of ,right1 ,the ,horrors of the ,seven ,deadly ,sins1 all of which were popular subjects for the weaver4 ,with the artists who might be called primitives we have almost finished in the end of the ,fifteenth ,century4 ,the simplicity of the very early weavers passed4 ,they were content with comparatively few figures1 and these so strongly treated that in composition one scarce took on more importance than another4 ,when ,arras and other ,flemish towns1 as well as ,paris and certain ,french towns1 developed the industry and employed more ambitious artists1 the designs became more crowded1 and the tendency was to multiply figures in an effort to crowd as many as possible into the space4 ,when architecture appeared in the design1 towers and battlements were crowded with peeping heads in delightful lack of proportion1 and forests of spears springing from platoons of soldiers1 filled almost the entire height of the cloth4 ,the naive fashion still existed of dressing the characters of an ancient ,biblical or classic drama in costumes which were the mode of the weaver's time1 disregarding the epoch in which the characters actually lived4 ,an adherence to the childlike drawing of the early workers continues noticeable in their quaint way of putting many scenes on one tapestry4 ,interiors are readily managed1 by dividing--as in ,the ,sacraments set in the ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york--with slender ,gothic columns1 than which nothing could be prettier1 especially when framed in at the top with the ,gothic arch4 ,in outdoor scenes the frank disregard of the probable adds the charm of audacity4 ,side by side with a scene of carnage1 a field of blood with victims lying prone1 is inserted an island of flowers whereon youths and dogs are pleasantly sporting2 and adjoining that may be another section cunningly introduced where a martyred woman is enveloped in flames which spring from the ground around her as naturally as grass in springtime4 ,illustration3 ,,david ,,and ,,bathsheba ,flemish ,tapestry1 late ,fifteenth ,century ,illustration3 ,,history ,,of ,,st4 ,,stephen ,arras ,tapestry1 ,fifteenth ,century ,and flowers1 flowers everywhere4 ,those little blossoms of the ,gothic with their perennial beauty1 they are one of the smiles of that far time that shed cheer through the centuries4 ,they are not the grandiose affairs of the ,renaissance whose voluptuous development contains the arrogant assurance of beauty matured4 ,they do not crown a column or trail themselves in foliated scrolls2 but are just as ,nature meant them to be1 unaffected bits of colour and grace1 upspringing from the sod4 ,in the cathedral at ,berne is a happy example of the use of these sweet flowers1 as they appear at the feet of the sacred group1 and as they carry the eye into the sky by means of the feathery branches like fern-fronds which tops the scene2 but we find them nearer home1 in almost every ,gothic tapestry4 ,it was about the end of the last ,crusade when ,italy began to produce the inspired artists who broke the bonds of ,byzantine traditions and turned back to the inspiration of all art1 which is ,nature4 ,giotto1 tending his sheep1 began to draw pictures of things as he saw them1 ,savonarola awoke the conscience1 ,dante1 ,petrarch1 ,boccaccio--a string of names to conjure with--all roused the intellect4 ,the dawn of the ,renaissance flushed ,europe with the life of civilisation4 ,but before the wonderful development of art through the reversion to classic lines1 came a high perfection of the style called ,gothic1 and with that we are pleased to deal first4 ,it is so full of beauty to the eye and interest to the intellect that sometimes we must be dragged away from it to regard the softer lines of later art1 with the ingratitude and reluctance of childhood when torn from its fairy tales to read of real people in the commonplace of every day4 ,we are now in the time when the perfection of production was reached in the tapestries we call ,gothic4 ,artists had grown more certain of their touch in colour and design1 and weavers worked with such conscientious care as is now almost unknown1 and produced a quality of tapestry superior to that of their forebears4 ,the ,fifteenth ,century and the first few years of the ,sixteenth were spent in perfecting the style of the preceding century1 and so great was the perfection reached1 that it was impossible to develop further on those lines4 ,it must not be supposed from their importance that ,brussels and ,bruges were the sole towns of weavers4 ,there were many high-warp looms1 and low-warp as well1 in many towns in ,flanders and ,france1 and there were also beginnings in ,spain1 ,england and ,germany4 ,italy came later4 ,the superb set in the ,cluny ,museum in ,paris1 ,the ,lady and the ,unicorn1 than which nothing could be lovelier in poetic feeling as well as in technique1 is accorded to ,french looms4 ,but as it is impossible in a cursory survey to mention all1 the two most important cities are dwelt upon because it is from them that the greatest amount of the best product emanated4 ,tapestries could not well decline with the fortunes of a town1 for they were a heavy article of commerce at the time when ,louis ,,xi attacked ,arras4 ,trade was made across the ,channel1 whence came the best wool for their manufacture2 they were bought by the ,french monarchs and nobility2 many drifted to ,genoa and ,italy1 to be sold by the active merchants of the times to whoever could buy4 ,when1 therefore1 ,arras was crushed1 her able workmen flew to other centres of production1 principally in ,flanders1 notably to ,bruges and ,brussels1 and helped to bring these places into their high position4 ,illustration3 ,,verdure ,french ,gothic ,tapestry ,illustration3 ,,ecce ,,homo ,brussels ,tapestry1 about #aebj4 ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york ,stories of kings and their magnificence breathe ever of romance1 but kings could not be magnificent were it not for the labour of the conscientious common people1 those who go daily to their task1 asking nothing better than to live their little span in humble endeavour4 ,the weavers1 the tapissiers of that far-away time in ,flanders are intensely appealing now when their beautiful work hangs before us to-day4 ,they send us a friendly message down through the centuries4 ,it is this makes us inquire a bit into the conditions of their lives1 and so we find them scattered through the country north of ,france working with single-hearted devotion toward the perfection of their art4 ,that they arrived there1 we know by such tapestries as are left us of their time4 ,bruges was the home of a movement in art similar to that occurring in ,italy4 ,old traditions of painting were being thrown aside--the revolution even attacking the painter's medium1 tempera1 which was criticised1 discarded and replaced by oil on the palettes4 ,memling1 the brothers ,van ,eyck1 were painting things as they saw them1 not as rules prescribed4 ,bernard ,van ,orley was at work with bold originality4 ,it were strange if this ,northern school of painters had not influenced all art near by4 ,it is to these men that ,brussels owes the beauty of her tapestries in that apogee of ,gothic art which immediately preceded the introduction of the ,renaissance from ,italy4 ,cartoons or drawings for tapestries took on the rules of composition of these talented and original men4 ,easily distinguishable is the strong influence of the religious feeling1 the fidelity to standards of the church4 ,when a rich townsman wished to express his praise or gratitude to ,god1 he ordered for the church an altar-piece or dainty gilded ,gothic carving to frame the painted panels of careful execution4 ,when ,jean de ,rome executed a cartoon1 he treated it in much the same way2 built up an airy ,gothic structure and filled the spaces with pretty pictures4 ,the so-called ,mazarin tapestry of ,mr4 ,morgan's shows this treatment at its best4 ,unhappily1 the atelier of ,jean de ,rome or ,jan von ,room is too sketchily portrayed in the book of the past2 its records are faint and elusive4 ,we only hear now and then an interested allusion1 a suggestion that this or that beautiful specimen of work has come from his atelier4 ,cartoons at the beginning of the ,sixteenth ,century were not all divided into their different scenes by ,gothic column and arch4 ,in much of the fine work there was no division except a natural one1 for the picture began to develop the modern scheme of treating but one scene in one picture4 ,although this might be filled with many groups1 yet all formed a harmonious whole4 ,the practice then fell into disuse of repeating the same individual many times in one picture4 ,a good example of the change and improvement in drawing which assisted in making ,brussels' supremacy and in bringing ,gothic art to perfection1 is the fine hanging in the ,museum of ,fine ,arts in ,boston4 7,plate facing page #eg47 ,it depicts with beautiful naivete and much realism the discomfiture of ,pharaoh and his army floundering in the ,red ,sea1 while the serene and elegant children of ,israel contemplate their distress with well-bred calm from the flowery banks of an orderly park4 ,illustration3 ,,allegorical ,,subject ,flemish ,tapestry1 about #aejj4 ,collection of ,alfred ,w4 ,hoyt1 ,esq4 ,illustration3 ,,crossing ,,the ,,red ,,sea ,brussels ,tapestry1 about #aejj4 ,boston ,museum of ,fine ,arts ,this tapestry illustrates so many of the important features of work during the first period of ,brussels' supremacy that it is to be lingered over1 dissected and tasted like a dessert of nuts and wine4 ,should one speak first of the cartoon or of the weave1 of the artist or of the craftsmen8 ,if it is to be the tapissier1 then to him all credit1 for in this and similar work he has reached a care in execution and a talent in translation that are inspired4 ,such quantity of detail1 so many human faces with their varying expressions1 could only be woven by the most adroit tapissier4 ,the drawing shows1 first1 one scene of many groups but a sole interest1 with none but probable divisions4 ,much grace and freedom is shown in the attitudes of the persons on the shore1 and strenuous effort and despair among the engulfed soldiers4 ,extreme attention to detail1 the making one part as finished as another1 even to the least detail1 is noticeable4 ,the exaggerated patterns of the stuffs observable in earlier work is absent1 and a sense of proportion is displayed in dress ornament4 ,the free movement of men and beasts1 and the variety of facial expression all show the immense strides made in drawing and the perfection attained in this brilliant period4 ,it was a time when the artist perfected the old style and presaged the new1 the years before the ,renaissance had left its cradle and marched over ,europe4 ,this perfection of the ,gothic ideal has a purity and simplicity that can never fail to appeal to all who feel that sincerity is the basic principle of art as it is of character4 ,the style of ,quentin ,matsys1 of the ,van ,eycks1 was the mode at the end of the ,fifteenth ,century and the beginning of the ,sixteenth1 and after all this lapse of time it seems to us a sweet and natural expression of admirable human attributes4 ,in the new wing of the ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york1 the labels of certain exhibits1 purchases and loans allude briefly to studio of ,jean de ,rome4 ,it is an allusion which especially interests us1 as our country now holds examples of this atelier which make us wish to know more about its master4 ,he was a designer in the marvellous transition period of about #aejj1 when art trembled between the restraint of ecclesiastic ,gothic and the voluptuous freedom of the ,renaissance2 hesitated between the conventions of religion and the abandonment to luxury1 to indulgence of the senses4 ,it is the fashion to regard periods of transition as times of decadence1 of false standards of hybrid production1 but at least they are full of deepest interest to the student of design who finds in the tremulous dawn of the new idea a flush which beautifies the last years of the old method4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,kingdom ,,of ,,heaven ,flemish ,tapestry1 about #aeaj4 ,collection of ,j4 ,pierpont ,morgan1 ,esq41 ,new ,york ,attributed to this newly unearthed studio of ,jean de ,rome hangs a marvellous tapestry in the new wing alluded to1 one which deserves repeated visits4 7,plate facing page #eh47 ,indeed1 to see it once creates the desire to see it again1 so beautiful is it in drawing and so exquisite in colour and weave4 ,it is suggested that ,quentin ,matsys is responsible for the drawing1 and it is known that only ,bruges or ,brussels could produce such perfection of textile4 ,indeed1 ,jean de ,rome is by some authorities spoken of as ,jean de ,brussels1 for it is there that he worked long and well1 assisting to produce those wonders of textile art that have never been surpassed1 not even by the ,gobelins factory in the ,seventeenth ,century4 ,the tapestry in the ,metropolitan ,museum is now the property of ,j4 ,pierpont ,morgan1 ,esq41 but began life as the treasure of the ,king and ,queen of ,spain who1 at the time when ,brussels was producing its best1 were sitting firmly on a throne but just wrested from the ,saracenic occupancy4 ,spain1 while unable to establish famous and enduring tapestry factories of her own1 yet was known always as a lavish buyer4 ,later1 ,cardinal ,mazarin1 with his trained ,italian eye1 detected at once the value of the tapestry and became possessed of it1 counting it among his best treasures of art4 ,it is a woven representation of the triptych1 so favourite in the time of the ,van ,eycks1 and is almost as rich with gold as those ancient altar decorations4 ,the tapestry is variously called ,the ,kingdom of ,heaven1 and ,the ,adoration of the ,eternal ,father and is the most beautiful and important of its kind in ,america4 ,fortunate they who can go to the museum to see it--only less fortunate than those who can go to see it many times4 ,in the private collection of ,martin ,a4 ,ryerson1 ,esq41 of ,chicago1 are three examples of great perfection4 ,they belonged to the celebrated art collection of ,baron ,spitzer1 which fact1 apart from their beauty1 gives them renown4 ,the first of these 7plate facing page #fj7 is an appearance of ,christ to the ,magdalen after the ,entombment1 and is ,flemish work of late in the ,fifteenth ,century4 ,it is woven in silk and gold with infinite skill4 ,with exquisite patience the weaver has brought out the crowded detail in the distance2 indeed1 it is this background1 stretching away to the far sky1 past the ,tomb1 beyond towns and plains of fruited trees to yet more cities set on a hill1 that constitutes the greatest charm of the picture1 and which must have brought hours of happy toil to the inspired weaver4 ,the second tapestry of ,mr4 ,ryerson's three pieces is also ,flemish of the late ,fifteenth ,century4 7,plate facing page #fa47 ,this small group of the ,holy ,family shows at its best the conscientious work of the time1 a time wherein man regarded labour as a means of worshipping his ,god4 ,the subject is treated by both artist and weaver with that loving care which approaches religion4 ,the holy three are all engaged in holding bunches of grapes1 while the ,child symbolically spills their juice into a chalice4 ,other symbols are found in the book and the cross-surmounted globe4 ,a background of flat drapery throws into beautiful relief the inspired faces of the group4 ,behind this stretches the miniature landscape1 but the foreground is unfretted by detail1 abounding in the repose of the simple surfaces of the garments of ,mother and ,child4 ,by a subtle trick of line1 ,st4 ,joseph is separated from the holier pair4 ,the border is the familiar well-balanced ,gothic composition of flower1 fruit1 and leaf1 all placed as though by the hand of ,nature4 ,the materials used are silk and gold1 but one might well add that the soul of the weaver also entered into the fabric4 ,illustration3 ,,flemish ,,tapestry1 ,,end ,,of ,,fifteenth ,,century ,collection of ,martin ,a4 ,ryerson1 ,esq41 ,chicago4 ,formerly in the ,spitzer ,collection ,illustration3 ,,the ,,holy ,,family ,flemish ,tapestry1 end of ,fifteenth ,century4 ,collection of ,martin ,a4 ,ryerson1 ,esq41 ,chicago4 ,formerly in the ,spitzer ,collection ,the third piece from the ,spitzer collection bears all those marks of exquisite beauty with which ,italy was teeming in the ,fifteenth ,century4 7,colour plate facing page #hb47 ,weavers from ,brussels went down into ,italy and worked under the direction of ,italian artists who drew the designs4 ,andrea ,mantegna was one of these4 ,the patron of the industry was the powerful ,gonzaga family4 ,this tapestry of ,the ,annunciation which ,mr4 ,ryerson is so fortunate as to hang in his collection1 is decorated with the arms of the ,gonzaga family4 ,the border of veined marble1 the altar of mosaics and fine relief1 the architecture of the outlying baptistry1 the wreathed angel1 all speak of ,italy in that lovely moment when the ,gothic had not been entirely abandoned and the ,renaissance was but an opening bud4 ,the highest work of painter and weaver--artists both--continued through thirty or forty years4 ,pity it is1 the time had not been long enough for more remains of it to have come to us than those that scantily supply museums4 ,after the ,gothic perfection came the great change made in ,flanders by the introduction of the ,renaissance4 ,it came through the excellence of the weavers4 ,it was not the worth of the artists that brought ,brussels its greatest fame1 but the humbler work of its tapissiers4 ,their lives1 their endeavours counted more in textile art than did the ,flemish school of painting4 ,no such weavers existed in all the world4 ,they were bound together as a guild1 had restrictions and regulations of their own that would shame a trades union of to-day1 and in change of politics had scant consideration from new powers4 ,but in the end they were the ones to bring fame to the ,brussels workshops4 ,in #aebh they were banded together by organisation1 and from that time on their work is easily followed and identified4 ,it was in that year that a law was made compelling weavers--and allowing weavers--to incorporate into the encompassing galloon of the tapestry the ,brussels ,brabant mark of two ,b's with a shield between4 ,and it was about this time and later that the celebrated family of weavers named ,pannemaker came into prominence through the talent of ,wilhelm de ,pannemaker1 he who accompanied the ,emperor ,charles ,v on his expedition to ,tunis4 ,this expedition flaunts itself in the set of tapestries now in ,madrid4 7,plate facing page #fb47 ,the emperor seems1 from our point of view1 to have done it all with dramatic forethought4 ,there was his special artist on the spot1 ,jan ,vermeyen1 to draw the superb cartoons1 and accompanying him was ,wilhelm de ,pannemaker1 the ablest weaver of his day1 to set the loom and thrust the shuttle4 ,granada was the place selected for the weaving1 and the finest of wool was set aside for it1 besides lavish amounts of silk1 and pounds of silver and gold4 ,in three years1 by the help of eighty workmen1 ,pannemaker completed his colossal task4 ,such was the master-weaver of the ,sixteenth ,century4 ,illustration3 ,,conquest ,,of ,,tunis ,,by ,,charles ,v 7,,detail7 ,cartoon by ,jan ,vermeyen4 ,woven by ,pannemaker4 ,royal ,collection at ,madrid ,as for ,pannemaker's imperial patron1 ,john ,addington ,symonds discriminatingly says of him3 ,like a gale sweeping across a forest of trees in blossom1 and bearing their fertilising pollen to far distant trees1 the storm of ,charles ,fifth's army carried far and wide through ,europe the productive energy of the ,renaissance4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,renaissance ,,influence ,brussels in #aeae1 with her workmen at the zenith of their perfection1 was given the order to weave the set of the ,acts of the ,apostles for the ,pope to hang in the ,sistine ,chapel4 7,plate facing page #fd47 ,the cartoons were by the great ,raphael4 ,not only did he draw the splendid scenes1 but with his exquisite invention elaborated the borders4 ,thus was set in the midst of the ,brussels ateliers a pattern for the new art that was to retire the nice perfection of the previous school of restraint4 ,from that time1 all was regulated by new standards4 ,before considering the change that came to designs in tapestry1 it is necessary that both mind and eye should be literally savants in the ,gothic4 ,without this the greatest point in classifying and distinguishing is missed4 ,the dainty grace of the verdure and flowers1 the exquisite models of the architectural details1 the honest1 simple scheme of colour1 all these are distinguishing marks1 but to them is added the still greater one of the figures and their grouping4 ,in the very early work1 these are few in number1 all equally accented in size and finish1 but later the laws of perspective are better understood1 and subordinates to the subject are drawn smaller4 ,this gives opportunity for increase in the number of personages1 and for the introduction of the horses and dogs and little wild animals that cause a childish thrill of delight wherever they are encountered1 so like are they to the species that haunt childhood's fairyland4 ,illustration3 ,,death ,,of ,,ananias4--,,from ,,acts ,,of ,,the ,,apostles ,,by ,,raphael ,from the ,palace of ,madrid ,illustration3 ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,rebecca ,brussels ,tapestry4 ,sixteenth ,century4 ,collection of ,arthur ,astor ,carey1 ,esq41 ,boston ,indeed1 the ,gothic tapestries more than any other existing pictures take us back to that epoch of our lives when we lived in romance1 when the ,sleeping ,beauty hid in just such towers1 when the prince rode such a horse and appeared an elegant young knight4 ,the inscrutable mystery of those folk of other days is like the inscrutable mystery of that childhood time1 the ,mediaeval time of the imagination1 and those of us who remember its joys gaze silent and happy in the tapestry room of the ,ducal ,palace at ,nancy1 or in ,mary's ,chamber at ,holyrood1 or in any place whatever where hang the magic pictured cloths4 ,when the highest development of a style is reached a change is sure to come4 ,it may be a degeneration1 or it may be the introduction of a new style through some great artistic impulse either native or introduced by contact with an outside influence4 ,fortunately1 the ,gothic passed through no pallid process of deterioration4 ,the examples that nest comfortably in the museums of the world or in the homes of certain fortunate owners1 do not contain marks of decadence--only of transition4 ,it is a style that was replaced1 but not one that died the death of decadence4 ,it is with reluctance that one who loves the ,gothic will leave it for the more recent art of the ,renaissance4 ,its charm is one that embodies chasteness1 grace1 and simplicity1 one that is so exquisitely finished1 and so individual that the mind and eye rest lovingly upon its decorative expressions4 ,it is averred that the introduction of the revived styles of ,greece and ,rome into ,france destroyed an art superior4 ,one is inclined to this opinion in studying a tapestry of the highest ,gothic expression1 a finished product of the artist and the craftsman1 both having given to its execution their honest labour and highest skill4 ,unhappily it is often1 with the tapestry lover1 a case similar to that of the penniless boy before the bakeshop window--you may look1 but you may not have1--for not often are tapestries such as these for sale4 ,only among the experienced dealer-collectors is one fortunate enough to find these rare remnants of the past which for colour1 design and texture are unsurpassed4 ,but the ,gothic was bound to give way as a fashion in design4 ,politics of ,europe were at work1 and men were more easily moving about from one country to another4 ,the cities of the various provinces over which the ,burgundian dukes had ruled were prevented by natural causes1 from being united4 ,arras1 ,ghent1 ,liege instead of forming a solidarity1 were separate units of interest4 ,this made the subjugation of one or the other an easy matter to the tyrant who oppressed4 ,as ,arras declined under the misrule of ,charles le ,temeraire 7whose possessions at one time outlined the whole northern and eastern border of ,france7 ,brussels came into the highest prominence as a source of the finest tapestries4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,creation ,flemish ,tapestry4 ,italian ,cartoon1 ,sixteenth ,century ,illustration3 ,,the ,,original ,,sin ,flemish ,tapestry4 ,italian ,cartoon1 ,sixteenth ,century ,the great change in tapestries that now occurs is the same that altered all ,european art and decoration and architecture4 ,indeed it cannot be limited to these evidences alone1 for it affected literature1 politics1 religion1 every intellectual evidence4 ,man was breaking his bonds and becoming freed for centuries to come4 ,the time was well-named for the new birth4 ,like another ,birth of long ago1 it occurred in the ,south1 and its influence gradually spread over the entire civilised world4 ,the ,renaissance1 starting in ,italy1 gradually flushed the whole of ,europe with its glory4 ,artists could not be restrained4 ,throbbing with poetry to be expressed1 they threw off design after design of inspired beauty and flooded the world with them4 ,the legitimate field of painting was not large enough for their teeming originality which pre-empted also the field of decorative design as well4 ,many painters apprenticed themselves to goldsmiths and silversmiths to become yet more cunning in the art of minute design1 and the guilds of ,florence held the names best known in the fine arts4 ,tapestry weaving seems a natural expression in the ,north1 the impulsive supplying of a local need4 ,possibly ,italy felt no such need throughout the ,middle ,ages4 ,however that may be1 when her artists composed designs for woven pictures there were no permanent artisans at home of sufficient skill to weave them4 ,but up in the ,north1 craftsmen were able to produce work of such brilliant and perfect execution that the great artists of ,italy were inspired to draw cartoons4 ,and so it came1 that to make sure of having their drawings translated into wool and silk with proper artistic feeling1 the cartoons of ,raphael were bundled off by trusty carriers to the ateliers of ,flanders4 ,thus ,italy got her tapestries of the ,renaissance1 and thus ,flanders acquired by inoculation the rich art of the ,renaissance4 ,the direct cause of the change in ,flemish style of tapestries was in this way brought about by the ,renaissance of ,italy4 ,new rules of drawing were dominating4 ,changes were slower when travelling was difficult1 and the average of literacy was low2 but gradually there came creeping up to ,brussels cartoon after cartoon in the new method1 for her skilled workmen to transpose into wool and silk and metal1 thread of ,arras1 and gold and silver of ,cyprus4 ,italy had the artists1 ,brussels had the craftsmen--what happier combination could be made than the union of these two8 ,thus was the great change brought about in tapestries1 and this union is the great fact to be borne in mind about the difference between the ,gothic tapestries and those which so quickly succeeded them4 ,from now on the old method is abandoned1 not only in ,brussels1 but everywhere that the high-warp looms are set up4 ,the art nouveau of that day influenced every brush and pencil4 ,the great crowding of serried hosts on a single field disappeared1 and fewer but perfect figures played their parts on the woven surface4 ,wherever architectural details1 such as porticoes or columns1 were introduced1 these dropped the old designs of pointed style or battlements1 and took on the classic or the high ,renaissance that ornaments the facade of ,pavia's ,certosa4 ,one by one the wildwood flowers receded before the advance of civilisation1 very much as those in the veritable land are wont to do1 and their place was taken by a verdure as rich as the ,south could produce1 with heavy foliage and massive blossoms4 ,illustration3 ,,meleager ,,and ,,atalanta ,flemish design1 second half of ,seventeenth ,century4 ,woven in ,paris workshops by ,charles de ,comans ,illustration3 ,,punic ,,war ,,series ,brussels ,tapestry4 ,sixteenth ,century4 ,collection of ,arthur ,astor ,carey1 ,esq41 ,boston ,it is impossible to overestimate the importance to ,brussels of the animating experience and distinguished commission of executing the set of tapestries for the ,sistine ,chapel after cartoons by ,raffaelo ,sanzio4 ,the date is one to tie to 7#aeae7 and the influence of the work was far-reaching4 ,the ,gothic method could no longer continue4 ,the ,renaissance spread its influence1 established its standards and introduced that wave of productiveness which always followed its introduction4 ,there are many who doubt the superiority of the voluptuous art of the high ,renaissance4 ,there are those who prefer 7perhaps for reasons of sentiment7 the early ,gothic1 and many more who love far better the sweet purity of the early ,renaissance4 ,before us ,raphael presents his full figures replete with action1 rich with broad1 open curves in nudity1 and magnificent with lines of flowing drapery4 ,to him be accorded all due honour2 but1 if it is the privilege of the artist's spirit to wander still on earth1 he must find his particular post-mortem punishment in viewing the deplorable school of exaggeration which his example founded4 ,who would not prefer one of the chaste tapestries of perfected ,gothic to one of those which followed ,raphael1 imitating none of his virtues1 exaggerating his faults8 ,it is these followers1 the virilities of whose false art is as that of weeds1 who have come almost to our own day and who have succeeded in spoiling the historical aspect of the ,new ,testament for many an imaginative ,sunday-school attendant by giving us ,bible folk in swarthy undress1 in lunatic beards and in unwearable drapings4 ,these terrible persons1 descendants of ,raphael's art1 can never stir a human sympathy4 ,just here a word must be said of the workmen1 the weavers of ,brussels4 ,for them certain fixed rules were made1 but also they were allowed much liberty in execution4 ,the artist might draw the big cartoons and thus become the governing influence1 but much of the choice of colour and thread was left to the weaver4 ,this made of him a more important factor in the composition than a mere artisan2 he was1 in fact1 an artist1 must needs be1 to execute a work of such sublimity as the ,raphael set4 ,and as a weaver1 his patience was without limit4 ,thread by thread1 the warp was set1 and thread by thread the woof was woven and coerced into place by the relentless comb of the weaver4 ,perhaps a man might make a square foot1 by a week of close application2 but how much mattered nothing--it was how well that counted4 ,haste is disassociable from labour of our day2 we might produce--or reproduce--tapestries as good as the old1 but some one is in haste for the hanging1 and excellency goes by the board4 ,the weaver of those days of perfection was content to be a weaver1 felt his ambition gratified if his work was good4 ,illustration3 ,,episode ,,in ,,the ,,life ,,of ,,caesar ,flemish ,tapestry4 ,sixteenth ,century4 ,gallery of the ,arazzi1 ,florence ,illustration3 ,,wild ,,boar ,,hunt ,flemish ,cartoon and ,weaving1 ,sixteenth ,century4 ,gallery of the ,arazzi1 ,florence ,peter van ,aelst was the master chosen to execute the ,raphael tapestries1 and the pieces were finished in three or four years4 ,those who think present-day prices high1 should think on the fact that ,pope ,leo ,x paid #acj1jjj for the execution of the tapestries1 which in #aeae counted for more than now4 ,raphael received #a1jjj each for the cartoons1 almost all of which are now guarded in ,england4 ,the tapestries after a varied history are resting safely in the ,vatican1 a wonder to the visitor4 ,when ,van ,aelst had finished his magnificent work1 the tapestries were sent to ,rome4 ,those who go now to the ,sistine ,chapel to gaze upon ,michael ,angelo's painted ceiling1 and the panelled sidewalls of ,botticelli and other cotemporary artists1 are more than intoxicated with the feast4 ,but fancy what the scene must have been when ,pope ,leo ,x summoned his gorgeous guard and cardinals around him in this chapel enriched also with the splendour of these unparalleled hangings4 ,and thus it came that ,italy held the first place--almost the only place--in design1 and ,brussels led in manufacture4 ,in #aebh appeared a mark on ,brussels' tapestries which distinguished them from that time on4 ,prior to that their works1 except in certain authenticated instances1 are not always distinguishable from those of other looms--of which many existed in many towns4 ,the mark alluded to is the famous one of two large ,b's on either side of a shield or scutcheon4 ,this was woven into a plain band on the border1 and the penalty for its misuse was the no small one of the loss of the right hand--the death of the culprit as a weaver4 ,this mark and its laws were intended to discourage fraud1 to promote perfection and to conserve a high reputation for weavers as well as for dealers4 ,,chapter ,,vii ,,renaissance ,,to ,,rubens ,when the ,raphael cartoons first came to ,brussels the new method was a little difficult for the tapissier4 ,his hand had been accustomed to another manner4 ,he had1 too1 been allowed much liberty in his translations--if one may so call the art of reproducing a painted model on the loom4 ,he might change at will the colour of a drapery1 even the position of a figure1 and1 most interesting fact1 he had on hand a supply of stock figures that he might use at will1 making for himself suitable combination4 ,the figures of ,adam and ,eve gave a certain cachet to hangings not entirely secular and these were slipped in when a space needed filling4 ,there were also certain lovely ladies who might at one time play the role of attendant at a feast al fresco1 at another time a character in an allegory4 ,the weaver's hand was a little conventional when he began to execute the ,raphael cartoons1 but during the three years required for their execution he lost all restriction and was ready for the freer manner4 ,illustration3 ,,vertumnus ,,and ,,pomona ,first half of ,sixteenth ,century4 ,royal ,collection of ,madrid ,illustration3 ,,vertumnus ,,and ,,pomona ,first half of ,sixteenth ,century4 ,royal ,collection of ,madrid ,it must not be supposed the ,flemish artists were content to let the ,italians entirely usurp them in the drawing of cartoons4 ,the lovely refinement of the ,bruges school having been thrust aside1 the ,fleming tried his hand at the freer method1 not imitating its classicism but giving his themes a broader treatment4 ,the ,northern temperament failed to grasp the spirit of the ,south1 and figures grew gross and loose in the exaggerated drawing4 ,borders1 however1 show no such deterioration2 the attention to detail to which the old school was accustomed was here continued and with good effect4 ,no stronger evidence is needed than some of these half savage portrayals of life in the ,sixteenth ,century to declare the classic method an exotic in ,flanders4 ,but with the passing of the old ,gothic method1 there was little need for other cartoonists than the ,italian1 so infinitely able and prolific were they4 ,andrea del ,sarto1 ,titian1 ,paolo ,veronese1 ,giulio ,romano1 these are among the artists whose work went up to ,brussels workshops and to other able looms of the day4 ,we can fancy the fair face of ,andrea's wife being lovingly caressed by the weaver's fingers in his work2 we can imagine the beauties of ,titian1 the sumptuousness of ,veronese's feasts1 and the fat materialism of ,giulio ,romano's heavy cherubs1 all contributing to the most beautiful of textile arts4 ,still earlier1 ,mantegna supplied a series of idealised ,pompeian figures exquisitely composed1 set in a lacy fancy of airy architectural detail1 in which he idealised all the gods of ,olympus4 ,each fair young goddess1 each strong and perfect god1 stood in its particular niche and indicated its penchant by a tripod1 a peacock1 an apple or a caduceus1 as clue to the proper name4 ,such airy beauty1 such dainty conception1 makes of the gods rulers of aesthetics1 if not of fate4 ,this series of ,mantegna was the inspiration two centuries later of the ,triumphs of the ,gods1 and similar hangings of the newly-formed ,gobelins4 ,giulio ,romano drew1 among other cartoons1 a set of ,children ,playing1 which were the inspiration later at the ,gobelins for ,lebrun's ,enfants ,jardiniers4 ,as classic treatment was the mode in the ,sixteenth ,century1 so classic subject most appealed4 ,the loves and adventures of gods and heroes gave stories for an infinite number of sets4 ,as it was the fashion to fill a room with a series1 not with miscellaneous and contrasting bits1 several tapestries similar in subject and treatment were a necessity4 ,the gods were carried through their adventures in varying composition1 but the borders in all the set were uniform in style and measurement4 ,in those prolific days1 when ideas were crowding fast for expression1 the border gave just the outlet necessary for the superfluous designs of the artist4 ,he was wont to plot it off into squares with such architectonic fineness as ,mina da ,fiesole might have used1 and to make of each of these a picture or a figure so perfect that in itself it would have sufficient composition for an entire tapestry4 ,all honour to such artists1 but let us never once forget that without the skill and talent of the master-weaver these beauties would never have come down to us4 ,illustration3 ,,vertumnus ,,and ,,pomona ,first half of ,sixteenth ,century4 ,royal ,collection of ,madrid ,illustration3 ,,vertumnus ,,and ,,pomona ,first half of ,sixteenth ,century4 ,royal ,collection of ,madrid ,the collection of ,george ,blumenthal1 ,esquire1 of ,new ,york1 contains as beautiful examples of ,sixteenth ,century composition and weaving as could be imagined4 ,two of these were found in ,spain--the country which has ever hoarded her stores of marvellous tapestries4 ,they represent the story of ,mercury4 7,frontispiece47 ,the cartoon is ,italian1 and so perfect is its drawing1 so rich in invention is the exquisite border1 that the name of ,raphael is half-breathed by the thrilled observer4 ,but if the artist is not yet certainly identified1 the name of the weaver is certain1 for on the galloon he has left his sign4 ,it is none other than the celebrated ,wilhelm de ,pannemaker4 ,in addition to this is the shield and double ,b of the ,brussels workshop1 which after #aebh was a requirement on all tapestries beyond a certain small size4 ,in #aedd the ,emperor ,charles ,v made a law that the mark or name of the weaver and the mark of his town must be put in the border4 ,it was this same ,pannemaker of the ,blumenthal tapestries who wove in ,spain the ,conquest of ,tunis for ,charles ,v4 7,plate facing page #fb47 ,mr4 ,blumenthal's tapestries must have carried with them some such contract for fine materials as that which attended the execution of the ,tunis set1 so superb are they in quality4 ,indeed1 gold is so lavishly used that the border seems entirely made of it1 except for the delicate figures resting thereon4 ,it is used1 too1 in an unusual manner1 four threads being thrown together to make more resplendent the weave4 ,the beauty of the cartoon as a picture1 the decorative value of the broad surfaces of figured stuffs1 the marvellous execution of the weaver1 all make the value of these tapestries incalculable to the student and the lover of decorative art4 ,mr4 ,blumenthal has graciously placed them on exhibition in the ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york4 ,fortunate they who can absorb their beauty4 ,that treasure-house in ,madrid which belongs to the royal family contains a set which bears the same ear-marks as the ,blumenthal tapestries4 ,it is the set called ,the ,loves of ,vertumnus and ,pomona4 7,plates facing pages #gb1 #gc1 #gd and #ge47 ,here is the same manner of dress1 the same virility1 the same fulness of decoration4 ,yet the ,mercury is drawn with finer art4 ,the delight in perfected detail belonging to the ,italian school of artists resulted in an arrangement of grotesques4 ,who knows that the goldsmith's trade was not responsible for these tiny fantastics1 as so many artists began as apprentices to workers in gold and silver8 ,this evidence of talented invention must be observed1 for it set the fashion for many a later tapestry1 notably the ,grotesque ,months of the ,seventeenth ,century4 ,mingled with verdure and fruit1 it is seen in work of the ,eighteenth ,century4 ,but in its original expression is it the most talented4 ,there we find that intellectual plan of design1 that building of a perfect whole from a subtle combination of absolutely irreconcilable and even fabulous objects4 ,yet all is done with such beguiling art that both mind and eye are piqued and pleased with the impossible blending of realism and imagination4 ,bacchiacca drew a filigree of attenuated fancies1 threw them on a ground of single delicate colour1 and sent them for weave to the celebrated masters1 ,john ,rost and ,nicholas ,karcher4 7,plates facing pages #hd and #he47 ,these men at that time 7#aeej7 had set their ,flemish looms in ,italy4 ,illustration3 ,,tapestries ,,for ,,head ,,and ,,side ,,of ,,bed ,renaissance designs4 ,royal ,collection of ,madrid ,illustration3 ,,the ,,story ,,of ,,rebecca ,brussels ,tapestry4 ,sixteenth ,century4 ,collection of ,arthur ,astor ,carey1 ,esq41 ,boston ,and so it came that the ,renaissance swept all before it in the world of tapestry4 ,more than that1 with the increase of culture and of wealth1 with the increased mingling of the peoples of ,europe after the raid of ,charles ,v into ,italy1 the demand for tapestries enormously increased4 ,they were wanted for furnishing of homes1 they were wanted as gifts--to brides1 to monarchs1 to ambassadors4 ,and they were wanted for splendid decoration in public festivals4 ,they had passed beyond the stage of rarity and had become almost as much a matter of course as clothing4 ,brussels being in the ascendency as a producer1 the world looked to her for their supply1 and thereby came trouble4 ,more orders came than it was possible to fill4 ,the temptation was not resisted to accept more work than could be executed1 for commercialism has ever a hold4 ,the result was a driving haste4 ,the director of the ateliers forced his weavers to quick production4 ,this could mean but one thing1 the lessening of care in every department4 ,gradually it came about that expedition in a tapissier1 the ability to weave quickly1 was as great a desideratum as fine work4 ,various other expedients were resorted to beside the ,sixteenth ,century equivalent of ,step lively4 ,large tapestries were not set on a single loom1 but were woven in sections1 cunningly united when finished4 ,in this manner more men could be impressed into the manufacture of a single piece4 ,a wicked practice was introduced of painting or dyeing certain woven parts in which the colours had been ill-selected4 ,all these things resulted in constantly increasing restrictions by the guild of tapissiers and by order of royal patrons4 ,but fraud is hard to suppress when the animus of the perpetrator is wrong4 ,laws were made to stop one fault after another1 until in the end the weavers were so hampered by regulations that work was robbed of all enthusiasm or originality4 ,it was at this time that ,brussels adopted the low-warp loom4 ,in other words1 after a brilliant period of prolific and beautiful production1 ,brussels began to show signs of deterioration4 ,her hour of triumph was past4 ,it had been more brilliant than any preceding1 and later times were never able to touch the same note of purity coupled with perfection4 ,the reason for the decline is known1 but reasons are of scant interest in the face of the deplorable fact of decadence4 ,the ,italian method of drawing cartoons was adopted by the ,flemish cartoonists at this time1 but as it was an adoption and not a natural expression of inborn talent1 it fell short of the high standard of the ,renaissance4 ,but that is not to say that we of to-day are not ready to worship the fruit of the ,italian graft on ,flemish talent4 ,a tapestry belonging to the ,institute of ,art in ,chicago well represents this hybrid expression of drawing4 7,plate facing page #gh47 ,the principal figures are inspired by such as are seen in the ,mercury of ,mr4 ,blumenthal's collection1 or the ,vertumnus and ,pomona series1 but there the artist stopped and wandered off into his traditional ,flemish landscape with proper ,flemings in the background dressed in the fashion of the artist's day4 ,illustration3 ,,brussels ,,tapestry4 ,,late ,,sixteenth ,,century ,weaver1 ,jacques ,geubels4 ,institute of ,art1 ,chicago ,illustration3 ,,meeting ,,of ,,antony ,,and ,,cleopatra ,brussels ,tapestry4 ,woven by ,gerard van den ,strecken4 ,cartoon attributed to ,rubens ,the border was evidently inspired by ,raphael's classic figures and arabesques1 but the column of design is naively broken by the far perspective of a formal garden4 ,the ,italian cartoonist would have built his border1 figure and arabesque1 one above another like a fantastic column 7vide ,mr4 ,blumenthal's ,mercury border74 ,the ,fleming saw the intricacy1 the multiplied detail1 but missed the intellectual harmony4 ,but1 such trifles apart1 the ,flemish examples of this style that have come to us are thrilling in their beauty of colour1 and borders such as this are an infinite joy4 ,this tapestry was woven about the last quarter of the ,sixteenth ,century by a weaver named ,jacques ,geubels of ,brussels1 who was employed by ,carlier1 a merchant of ,antwerp4 ,as the fruit of the ,renaissance graft on ,flanders coarsened and deteriorated1 a new influence arose in the ,low ,countries1 one that was bound to submerge all others4 ,rubens appeared and spread his great decorative surfaces before eyes that were tired of hybrid design4 ,this great scene-painter introduced into all ,europe a new method in his voluptuous1 vigorous work1 a method especially adapted to tapestry weaving4 ,it is not for us to quarrel with the art of so great a master4 ,the critics of painting scarce do that2 but in the lesser art of tapestry the change brought about by his cartoons was not a happy one4 ,his great dramatic scenes required to be copied directly from the canvas1 no liberty of line or colour could be allowed the weaver4 ,in times past1 the tapissier--with talent almost as great as that of the cartoonist--altered at his discretion4 ,even he to whom the ,raphael cartoons were entrusted changed here and there the work of the master4 ,but now he was expected to copy without license for change4 ,in other words1 the time was arriving when tapestries were changing from decorative fabrics into paintings in wool4 ,it takes courage to avow a distaste for the newer method1 seeing what rare and beautiful hangings it has produced4 ,but after a study of the purely decorative hangings of ,gothic and ,renaissance work1 how forced and false seem the later gods4 ,the value of the tapestries is enormous1 they are the work of eminent men--but the heart turns away from them and revels again in the ,primitives and the ,italians of the ,cinque ,cento4 ,repining is of little avail4 ,the mode changes and tastes must change with it4 ,if the gradual decadence after the ,renaissance was deplorable1 it was well that a ,rubens rose in vigour to set a new and vital copy4 ,to meet new needs1 more tones of colour and yet more1 were required by the weaver1 and thus came about the making of woven pictures4 ,as one picture is worth many pages of description1 it were well to observe the examples given 7plate facing page #gi7 of the superb set of ,antony and ,cleopatra1 a series of designs attributed to ,rubens1 executed in ,brussels by ,gerard van den ,strecken4 ,this set is in the ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,italy ,,fifteenth ,,through ,,seventeenth ,,centuries ,the history of tapestry in ,italy is the story of the great families1 their romances and achievements4 ,these families were those which furnished rulers of provinces--kings1 almost--which supplied popes as well1 and folk who thought a powerful man's pleasurable duty was to interest himself seriously in the arts4 ,with the fine arts all held within her hand1 it was but logical that ,italy should herself begin to produce the tapestries she was importing from the land of the barbarians as those beyond her northern borders were arrogantly called4 ,first among the records is found the name of the ,gonzaga family which called important ,flemish weavers down to ,mantua1 and there wove designs of ,mantegna1 in the highest day of their factory's production1 about #adej4 ,duke ,frederick of ,urbino is one of the early ,italian patrons of tapestry whose name is made unforgettable in this connexion by the product of the factory he established toward the end of the ,fifteenth ,century1 at his court in the little duchy which included only the space reaching from the ,apennines to the ,adriatic and from ,rimini to ,ancona4 ,the chief work of this factory was the ,history of ,troy which cost the generous and enthusiastic duke a hundred thousand dollars4 ,the great d',este family was one to follow persistently the art1 possibly because it habited the northern part of the peninsula and was therefore nearer ,flanders1 but more probably because the great ,duke of ,ferrara was animated by that superb pride of race that chafes at rivalry2 this1 added to a wish to encourage art1 and the lust of possession which characterised the great men of that day4 ,it was the middle of the ,sixteenth ,century that ,ercole ,,ii1 the head of the d',este family1 revived at ,ferrara the factory of his family which had suffered from the wars4 ,the master-weavers were brought from ,flanders1 not only to produce tapestries almost unequalled for technical perfection1 but to instruct local weavers4 ,these two important weavers were ,nicholas and ,john ,karcher or ,carcher as it is sometimes spelled1 names of great renown--for a weaver might be almost as well known and as highly esteemed as the artist of the cartoons in those days when artisan's labour had not been despised by even the great ,leonardo4 ,the foremost artist of the ,ferrara works was chosen from that city1 ,battista ,dosso1 but also active as designer was the ,fleming1 ,lucas ,cornelisz4 ,in ,dosso's work is seen that exquisite and dainty touch that characterises the artists of ,northern ,italy in their most perfect period1 before voluptuous masses and heavy scroll-like curves prevailed even in the drawing of the human figure4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,annunciation ,italian ,tapestry4 ,fifteenth ,century4 ,collection of ,martin ,a4 ,ryerson1 ,esq41 ,chicago ,the ,house of ,este had a part to play in the visit of the ,emperor ,charles ,v when he elected to be crowned with ,lombardy's ,iron ,crown1 in #aecj1 at ,bologna instead of in the cathedral at ,monza where the relic has its home4 ,crowns run after me2 ,i do not run after them1 he said1 with the arrogance of success4 ,at this reception at ,bologna we catch a glimpse of the brilliant ,isabella d',este amid all the magnificence of the occasion4 ,it takes very little imagination to picture the effect of the public square at ,bologna--the same buildings that stand to-day--the square of the ,palazzo ,publico and the ,cathedral--to fancy these all hung with the immense woven pictures with high lights of silk and gold glowing in the sun1 and through this magnificent scene the procession of mounted guards1 of beautiful ladies1 of church dignitaries1 with ,charles ,v as the central object of pomp1 wearing as a clasp to the cope of state the great diamond found on the field of ,marat after the defeat of the ,duke of ,burgundy4 ,the members of the ,house of ,este were there with their courts and their proteges1 their artists and their literati1 as well as with their display of riches and gaiety4 ,the manufactory at ,ferrara was now allowed to sell to the public1 so great was its success1 and to it is owed the first impetus given to the weaving in ,italy and the production of some of the finest hangings which time has left for us to enjoy to-day4 ,it is a sad commentary on man's lust of novelty that the factory at ,ferrara was ultimately abandoned by reason of the introduction into the country of the brilliant metal-illuminated leathers of ,cordova4 ,the factory's life was comprised within the space of the years #aecd to #aeig1 the years in which lived ,ercole ,,ii and ,alfonso ,,ii1 the two dukes of the ,house of ,este who established and continued it4 ,it was but little wonder that the great family of the ,medici looked with envious eyes on any innovation or success which distinguished a family which so nearly approached in importance its own4 ,when ,ercole d',este had fully proved the perfection of his new industry1 the weaving of tapestry1 one of the ,medici established for himself a factory whereby he1 too1 might produce this form of art1 not only for the furtherance of the art1 but to supply his own insatiable desires for possession4 ,the ,arazzeria ,medicea was the direct result of the jealousy of ,cosimo ,i1 ,grand ,duke of ,tuscany1 #aecg-aegd4 ,it was established in ,florence with a success to be anticipated under such powerful protection1 and it endured until that patronage was removed by the extinction of the family in #agcg4 ,it was to be expected that the artists employed were those of note1 yet in the general result1 outside of delicate grotesques1 the drawing is more or less the far-away echo of greater masters whose faults are reproduced1 but whose inspiration is not obtainable4 ,after ,michael ,angelo1 came a passion for over-delineation of over-developed muscles2 after ,raphael--came the debased followers of his favourite pupil1 ,giulio ,romano1 who had himself seized all there was of the carnal in ,raphael's genius4 ,but if there is something to be desired in the composition and line of the cartoons of the ,florentine factory1 there is nothing lacking in the consummate skill of the weavers4 ,illustration3 ,,italian ,,tapestry4 ,,middle ,,of ,,sixteenth ,,century ,cartoon by ,bacchiacca4 ,woven by ,nicholas ,karcher ,illustration3 ,,italian ,,tapestry4 ,,middle ,,of ,,sixteenth ,,century ,cartoon by ,bacchiacca4 ,woven by ,g4 ,rost ,the same ,nicholas ,karcher who set the standard in the d',este works1 gave of his wonderful skill to the ,florentines1 and with him was associated ,john ,rost4 ,these were both from ,flanders1 and although trade regulations for tapestry workers did not exist in ,italy1 ,duke ,cosimo granted each of these men a sufficient salary1 a habitat1 as well as permission to work for outsiders1 and in addition paid them for all work executed for himself4 ,the subjects for the set of tapestries had entirely left the old method of pious interpretation and of mediaeval allegory and revelled in pictured tales of the ,scriptures and of the gods and heroes of mystical ,parnassus and of bellicose ,greece1 not forgetting those dainty exquisite impossibilities called grotesques4 ,it was about the time of the death of ,cosimo ,i 7#aegd71 the founder of the ,medicean factory1 that a new and unfortunate influence came into the directorship of the designs4 ,this was the appointment of ,stradano or ,johan van der ,straaten1 to give his ,flemish name1 as dominating artist4 ,he was a man without fine artistic feeling1 one of those whose eye delighted in the exaggerations of decadence rather than in the restraint of perfect art4 ,he was inspired1 not by past perfection of the ,italians among whom he came to live1 but by those of the decline1 and on this he grafted a bit of ,northern philistinism4 ,his brush was unfortunately prolific1 and at this time the fine examples of weaving set by ,rost and ,karcher had been replaced by quicker methods so that after #afjj the tapestries poured out were lamentably inferior4 ,florentine tapestry had at this time much pretence1 much vulgar display in its drawing1 missing the fine virtues of the time when ,cosimo ,i dictated its taste1 the fine virtues of grace1 gaiety and reflectiveness4 ,leo ,x1 the great ,medicean pope1 was elected in #aeac1 he who ordered the great ,raphael set of the ,acts of the ,apostles1 but it was before the establishment of important looms in ,italy1 so to ,flanders and ,van ,aelst are due the glory of first producing this series which afterward was repeated many times1 in the great looms of ,europe4 ,leo ,x emulated in the patronage of the arts his father ,lorenzo1 well-named ,magnificent4 ,what ,lorenzo did in ,florence1 ,leo ,x endeavoured to do in ,rome2 make of his time and of his city the highest expression of culture4 ,his record1 however1 is so mixed with the corruption of the time that its golden glory is half-dimmed4 ,it was from the licentiousness of cardinals and the wanton revels of the ,vatican in ,leo's time that young ,luther the barbarian fled with horror to nail up his theses on the doors of the churches in ,wittenberg4 ,the history of tapestry in ,italy at the ,seventeenth ,century was all in the hands of the great families4 ,italy was not united under a single royal head1 but was a heterogeneous mass of dukedoms1 of foreign invaders1 with the popes as the head of all4 ,but ,italy had experienced a time of papal corruption1 which had1 as its effect1 wars of disintegration1 the retarding of that unity of state which has only recently been accomplished4 ,state patronage for the factories was not known1 that steady beneficent influence1 changeless through changing reigns4 ,popes and great families regulated art in all its manifestations1 and who shall say that envy and rivalry did not act for its advancement4 ,illustration3 ,,italian ,,verdure4 ,,seventeenth ,,century ,the desire to imitate the cultivation and elegance of ,italy was what made returning invaders carry the ,renaissance into the rest of ,europe2 and in a lesser degree the process was reversed when1 in the ,seventeenth ,century1 a cardinal of the ,house of ,barberini visited ,france and1 on viewing in the royal residences a superb display of tapestries1 his envy and ambition were aroused to the extent of emulation4 ,he could not1 with all his power1 possess himself of the hangings that he saw1 but he could1 and did1 arrange to supply himself generously from another source4 ,he was the powerful ,francesco ,barberini1 the son of the pope's brother 7,pope ,urban ,,viii1 #afbc-afdd71 and it was he who established the ,barberini ,library and built from the ruins of ,rome's amphitheatres and baths the great palace which to-day still dominates the street winding up to its aristocratic elegance4 ,it was to adorn this palace that ,cardinal ,francesco established ateliers and looms and set artists and weavers to work4 ,this tapestry factory is of especial interest to ,america1 for some of its chief hangings have come to rest with us4 ,the ,mysteries of the ,life and ,death of ,jesus ,christ1 one set is called1 and is the property of the ,cathedral of ,st4 ,john1 the ,divine1 in ,new ,york1 donated by ,mrs4 ,clarke4 ,cardinal ,francesco ,barberini chose as his artists those of the school of ,pietro di ,cortona with ,giovanni ,francesco ,romanelli as the head master4 ,the director of the factory was ,giacomo della ,riviera allied with ,m4 ,wauters1 the ,fleming4#ac ,the former was especially concerned with the pieces now owned by the ,cathedral of ,st4 ,john1 the ,divine1 in ,new ,york1 and which are signed with his name4 ,romanelli was the artist of the cartoons1 and his fame is almost too well known to dwell upon4 ,his portrait1 in tapestry1 hangs in the ,louvre1 for in ,paris he gained much fame at the ,court of ,louis ,,xiv1 where he painted portraits of the ,grand ,monarch1 who never wearied of seeing his own magnificence fixed on canvas4 ,it was the hard fate of the ,barberini family to lose power and wealth after the death of their powerful member1 ,pope ,urban ,,viii1 in #afdd4 ,their wealth and influence were the shining mark for the arrows of envy1 so it was to be expected that when the next pope1 ,innocent ,x1 was elected1 they were robbed of riches and driven out of the country into ,france4 ,this ended for a time the work of the tapestry factory1 but later the family returned and work was resumed to the extent of weaving a superb series picturing scenes especially connected with the glory of the family1 and entitled ,history of ,urban ,,viii4 ,although ,italy is growing daily in power and riches under her new policy of political unity1 there were dreary years of heavy expense and light income for many of her famous families1 and it was during such an era that the ,barberini family consented to let their tapestries pass out from the doors of the palace they were woven to decorate4 ,in #ahhi1 the late ,charles ,m4 ,ffoulke1 ,esq41 became the possessor of all the ,barberini hangings1 and added them to his famous collection4 ,thus through the enterprise and the fine artistic appreciation of ,mr4 ,ffoulke1 is ,america able to enjoy the best expression of ,italian tapestry of the ,seventeenth ,century4 ,the part that ,venice ever played in the history of tapestry is the splendid one of consumer4 ,in her ,oriental magnificence she exhibited in palace and pageant the superb products of labour which others had executed4 ,without tapestries her big stone palaces would have lacked the note of soft luxury1 without coloured hangings her balconies would have been but dull settings for languid ladies1 and her water-parades would have missed the wondrous colour that the ,venetian loves4 ,yet to her rich market flowed the product of ,europe in such exhaustless stream that she became connoisseur-consumer only1 nor felt the need of serious producing4 ,workshops there were1 from time to time1 but they were as easily abandoned as they were initiated1 and they have left little either to history or to museums4 ,venice was1 in the ,sixteenth ,century1 not only a buyer of tapestries for her own use1 but one of the largest markets for the sale of hangings to all ,europe4 ,men and monarchs from all ,christendom went there to purchase4 ,the same may be said of ,genoa1 so that although these two cities had occasional unimportant looms1 their position was that of middleman--vendors of the works of others4 ,in addition to this they were repairers and had ateliers for restoring1 even in those days4 ,,footnote3 #ac ,e4 ,muentz1 ,la ,tapisserie4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,france ,,working ,,up ,,to ,,gobelins ,,factory ,in following the great sweep of tapestry production we arrive now in ,france1 there to stay until the ,revolution4 ,the early beginnings were there1 briefly rivalling ,arras1 but ,arras1 as we have seen1 caught up the industry with greater zeal and became the ever-famous leader of the ,fifteenth ,century1 ceding to ,brussels in the ,sixteenth ,century1 whence the high point of perfection was carried to ,paris and caused the establishment of the ,gobelins4 ,the ,english development under ,james ,i1 we defer for a later considering4 ,francis ,i stands1 an over-dressed1 ever ambitious figure1 at the beginning of things modern in ,french art4 ,he still smacks of the ,middle ,ages in many a custom1 many a habit of thought2 his men clank in armour1 in his chateaux lurk the suggestion of the fortress1 and his common people are sunk in a dark and hopeless oppression4 ,yet he himself darts about ,europe with a springing gait and an elegant manner1 the type of the strong aristocrat dispensing alike arts of war and arts of the ,renaissance4 ,was it his visits1 bellicose though they were1 to ,italy and ,spain1 that turned his observant eye to the luxury of woven story and made him desire that ,france should produce the same8 ,the ,sforza ,castle at ,milan had walls enough of tapestry1 the pageants of ,leonardo da ,vinci1 organised at royal command of the lovely ,beatrice d',este1 displayed the wealth of woven beauty over which ,francis had time to deliberate in those bad hours after the battle at ,milan's noted neighbour1 ,pavia4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,finding ,,of ,,moses ,gobelins1 ,seventeenth ,century4 ,cartoon after ,poussin4 ,the ,louvre ,museum ,illustration3 ,,triumph ,,of ,,juno ,gobelins under ,louis ,,xiv4 ,the attention of ,francis was also turned much to ,spain through envy of that extraordinary man of luck and ability1 the ,emperor ,charles ,v1 and from whom he made abortive and sullen efforts to wrest ,germany1 ,italy1 anything he could get4 ,in his imprisonment in ,madrid1 ,francis had time in plenty on which to think of many things1 and why not on the wonderful tapestries of which ,spain has always had a collection to make envious the rest of ,europe4 ,he might forget his two poor little boys who were left as hostages on his release1 but he forgot not whatever contributes to the pleasure of life4 ,that peculiarity was one which was yielding luscious fruit1 however1 for ,francis was the bearer of the torch of the ,renaissance which was to illumine ,france with the same fire that flashed and glowed over ,italy4 ,this is a fact to remember in regard to the class of designs of his own and succeeding periods in ,france4 ,how he got his ideas we can reasonably trace1 and the result of them was that he established a royal tapestry factory in beautiful ,fontainebleau1 which lies hid in grateful shade1 stretching to flowered fields but a reasonable distance from the distractions of ,paris4 ,it pleased ,francis--and perhaps the beautiful ,diane de ,poitiers and ,duchesse d',etampes--to critique plays in that tiny gem of a theatre at the palace1 or to feed the carp in the pool2 but also it gave him pleasure to wander into the rooms where the high-warp looms lifted their utilitarian lengths and artists played at magic with the wools4 ,alas1 one cannot dress this patronage of art with too much of disinterestedness1 for these marvellous weavings were for the adornment of the apartments of the very persons who caused their productions4 ,the grand idea of state ateliers had not yet come to bless the industry4 ,for this reason the factory at ,fontainebleau outlasted the reign of its founder1 ,francis ,i1 but a short time4 ,nevertheless1 examples of its works are still to be seen and are of great beauty1 notably those at the ,museum of the ,gobelins in ,paris4 ,that a series called the ,history of ,diana was produced is but natural1 considering the puissance at court of the famous ,diane de ,poitiers4 ,when ,francis' son1 ,henri ,,ii1 enfeebled in constitution by the ,spanish confinement1 inherited the throne1 it was but natural that he should neglect the indulgences of his father and prefer those of his own4 ,the ,fontainebleau factory strung its looms and copied its cartoons and produced1 too1 certain hangings for ,henri's wife1 the terrible ,catherine de ,medici1 on which her vicious eyes rested in forming her horrid plots2 but ,henri had ambitions of his own1 small ambitions beside those which had to do with jealousy of ,charles ,quint4 ,he let the factory of ,francis ,i languish1 but carried on the art under his own name and fame4 ,to give his infant industry a home he looked about ,paris and decided upon the ,hopital de la ,trinite1 an institution where asylum was found for the orphans of the city who seem1 in the light of the general brutality of the time1 to have been even in more need of a home than the parentless child of modern civilisation4 ,a part of the scheme was to employ in the works such children as were sufficiently mature and clever to work and to learn at least the auxiliary details of a craft that is also an art4 ,in this way the sixty or so of the orphans of ,la ,trinite were given a means of earning a livelihood4 ,among them was one whose name became renowned4 ,this was ,maurice du ,bourg1 whose tapestries surpassed all others of his time in this factory--an important factory1 as being one of the group that later was merged into the ,gobelins4 ,it must be remembered in identifying ,french tapestries of this kind that things ,gothic had been vanquished by the new fashion of things ,renaissance1 and that all models were ,italian4 ,giulio ,romano and his school of followers were the mode in ,france1 not only in drawing1 but in the revival of classic subject4 ,this condition in the art world found expression in a set of tapestries from the factory of ,la ,trinite that are sufficiently celebrated to be set down in the memory with an underscoring4 ,this set was composed of fifteen pieces illustrating in sweeping design and gorgeous colouring the ,history of ,mausolus and ,artemisia4 ,intense local and personal interest was given to the set by making an open secret of the fact that by ,artemisia1 the ,queen of ,halicarnassus1 was meant the widowed ,queen of ,france1 ,catherine de ,medici1 who adored posing as the most famous of widows and adding ancient glory to her living importance4 ,to this ,history ,french writers accord the important place of inspirer of a distinctively ,french ,renaissance4 ,the weaver being ,maurice du ,bourg1 the chief of the factory of ,la ,trinite1 the artists were ,henri ,lerambert and ,antoine ,carron1 but the set has been many times copied in various factories1 and ,artemisia has symbolised in turn two other widowed queens of ,france4 ,into the throne of ,france climbed wearily a feeble youth always under the influence of his mother1 ,catherine de ,medici2 and then it was filled by two other incapable and final ,orleans monarchs1 until at last by virtue of inheritance and sword1 it became the seat of that grand and faulty ,henri ,,iv1 ,king of ,navarre4 ,by fighting he got his place1 and the habit being strong upon him1 he was in eternal conflict4 ,some there be who are developed by sympathy1 but ,henri ,,iv was developed by opposition1 and thus it was that although opposed in the matter by his ,prime ,minister1 ,sully1 he established factories for the weaving of tapestries in both high and low warps4 ,with the desire to see the arts of peace instead of evidences of war throughout his kingdom just rescued from conflict1 he took all means to set his people in the ways of pleasing industry4 ,the indefatigable ,sully was plucking the royal sleeve to follow the path of the plough1 to see man's salvation1 material and moral1 in the ways of agriculture4 ,but ,henri favoured townspeople as well as country people1 and with the ,edict of ,nantes1 releasing from the bondage of terror a large number of workers1 he showed much industry in encouraging tapestry factories in and near ,paris1 and as these all lead to ,gobelins we will consider them4 ,illustration3 ,,triumph ,,of ,,the ,,gods 7,,detail7 ,gobelins1 ,seventeenth ,century ,illustration3 ,,triumph ,,of ,,the ,,gods 7,,detail7 ,gobelins ,tapestry ,henri ,,iv1 notwithstanding his ,prime ,minister ,sully's opposition to what he considered a favouring of vicious luxury1 began to occupy himself in tapestry factories as early in his reign as his people could rise from the wounds of war4 ,taking his movements chronologically we will begin with his establishment in #aeig 7eight years after this first ,bourbon took the throne7 of a high-warp industry in the house of the ,jesuits in the ,faubourg ,st4 ,antoine1 associating here ,du ,bourg of ,la ,trinite and ,laurent1 equally renowned1 and the composer of the ,st4 ,merri tapestries4#ad ,flemish workers in ,paris were at this same time1 about #afja1 encouraged by the king and under protection of his steward4 ,these ,flemings were the nucleus of a great industry1 for it was over them that two famous masters governed1 namely1 ,francois de la ,planche and ,marc ,comans or ,coomans4 ,in #afjg ,henri ,,iv established the looms which these men were called upon to direct4 ,these two ,flemings1 great in their art1 were men of family and of some means1 for their first venture in the manufacture of tapestry was a private enterprise like any of to-day4 ,they looked to themselves to produce the money for the support of the industry4 ,combining qualities of both the artist and the business man1 they took on apprentices and also established looms in the provinces 7notably ,tours and ,amiens7 where commercialism was as prominent as in modern methods2 that is to say1 that by turning off a lot of cheaper work for smaller purses1 a quick and ready market was found which supplied the money necessary for the production of those finer works of art which are left to delight us to-day4 ,this manner of procedure of ,de la ,planche and ,comans has an interest far deeper than the mere financial venture of the men of the early ,seventeenth ,century1 because it forces upon us the fact that at that time1 and earlier1 no state ateliers existed4 ,it was ,henri ,,iv who first saw the wisdom of using the public purse in advancing this industry4 ,he established ,du ,bourg in the ,louvre4 ,with ,henri ,laurent he was placed in the ,tuileries1 in #afjg1 and that atelier lasted until the ministry of ,colbert in the reign of ,louis ,,xiv4 ,in about #afbg the great ,de la ,planche died and his son1 ,raphael1 established ateliers of his own in the ,faubourg ,st4 ,germain1 turning out from his looms productions which were of sufficient excellence to be confused with those of his father's most profitable factory4 ,chronologically this fact belongs later1 so we return to the influence of ,henri ,,iv and the master gentleman tapissiers1 ,de la ,planche and ,comans4 ,the very name of the old palace1 ,les ,tournelles1 calls up a crowd of pictures3 the death of ,henri ,,ii at the tournament in honour of the marriage of his son with ,marie ,stuart1 the subsequent razing of this ancient home of kings by ,catherine de ,medici1 and its reconstruction in its present form by ,henri ,,iv4 ,it is here that ,richelieu honoured the brief reign of ,louis ,,xiii by a statue1 and it is here that ,madame de ,sevigne was born4 ,but more to our purpose1 it was here that1 in #afjg1 ,henri ,,iv cast his kingly eye when establishing a certain tapestry factory4 ,it was here he placed as directors the celebrated ,comans and ,de la ,planche4 ,it happened in time1 that the looms of ,les ,tournelles were moved to the ,faubourg ,st4 ,marceau and these two men came in time to direct these and all other looms under royal patronage4 ,examples are not wanting in museums of ,french work of this time1 showing the development of the art and the progress that ,france was making under ,henri ,,iv1 whose energy without limit1 and whose interests without number1 would to-day have given him the epithet of strenuous4 ,under his reign we see the activity that so easily led ,france up to the point where all that was needed was the assembling of the factories under the direction of one great master4 ,the factories flourishing under ,henri ,,iv were ,la ,trinite1 the ,louvre1 the ,savonnerie1 the ,faubourg ,st4 ,marceau and one in the ,tuileries4 ,but it needed the power of ,louis ,,xiv to tie all together in the strength of unity4 ,the assassin ,ravaillac1 fanatically muttering through the streets of ,paris1 alternately hiding and swaggering throughout the loveliest month of ,may1 when he thrust his murderous dagger through the royal coach1 not only gave a death blow to ,henri ,,iv1 but to many of these industries that the king had cherished for his people against the opposition of his prime minister4 ,the tale of tapestry is like a vine hanging on a frame of history1 and frequent allusion therefore must be made to the tales of kings and their ministers4 ,as it is not always a monarch1 but often the power behind the throne that rules1 we see the force of ,richelieu surging behind the reign of the suppressed ,louis ,,xiii1 whose rule followed that of the regretted ,henri ,,iv4 ,the master of the then new ,palais-,royal had minor interests of his own1 apart from his generous plots of ruin for the ,protestants1 for all the ,french nobility1 and for the ,house of ,austria to which the queen belonged4 ,luxurious surroundings were a necessity to this man1 refined in the arts of cruelty and of living4 ,it was no wonder that under him tapestry weaving was not allowed to die1 but was fostered until that day when the ,grand ,monarch would organise and perfect4 ,in #afdc1 ,louis ,,xiv came to the throne under the guidance of ,anne of ,austria1 but it was many years before he was able to make his influence appreciable4 ,meanwhile1 however1 others were fostering the elegant industry4 ,it was as early as #afdg that two celebrated tapestry weavers came to ,paris from ,italy4 ,they were ,pierre ,lefevre or ,lefebvre and his son ,jean4 ,the first of these was the chief of a factory in ,florence1 whither he presently returned4 ,jean ,lefebvre stayed in ,paris1 won his way all the better for being released from parental rule1 and in time received the great honour of being appointed one of the directors of the ,gobelins1 when that factory was finally organised as an institution of the state4 ,illustration3 ,,gobelins ,,border 7,,detail7 ,,seventeenth ,,century ,illustration3 ,,children ,,gardening ,after ,charles ,lebrun4 ,gobelins1 ,seventeenth ,century4 ,chateau ,henri ,quatre1 ,pau ,during the regency of ,louis ,,xiv there were also factories outside of ,paris4 ,the high-warp looms of ,tours were of such notable importance that the great ,richelieu placed here an order for tapestries of great splendour with which to soften his hours of ease4 ,rheims ,cathedral still harbours the fine hangings which were woven for the place they now adorn1 an unusual circumstance in the world of tapestry4 ,these hangings 7,the ,story of ,christ7 were woven at ,rheims1 where the factory existed well known throughout the first half of the ,seventeenth ,century4 ,the church had previously ordered tapestries from another town executed by one ,daniel ,pepersack1 and so highly approved was his work that he was made director of the ,rheims factory4#ae ,a factory which lasted but a few years1 yet has for us a special interest1 is that of ,maincy1 founded in #afeh4 ,it is here that we hear of the great ,colbert and of ,lebrun1 whose names are synonymous with prosperity of the ,gobelins4 ,for the factory at ,maincy1 ,lebrun made cartoons of great beauty1 notably that of ,the ,hunt of ,meleager1 which now hangs in the ,gobelins ,museum in ,paris4 ,louis ,blamard was the director of the workmen1 who were ,flemish1 and who were afterwards called to ,paris to operate the looms of the newly-formed ,gobelins1 and the reason of the transference forms a part of the history of the great people of that day4 ,richelieu in dying had passed over his power to ,mazarin1 who had used it with every cruelty possible to the day4 ,he had coveted riches and elegance and had possessed himself of them2 had collected in his palace the most beautiful works of art of his day or those of a previous time4 ,after ,mazarin came ,foucquet1 the great1 the iconoclastic1 the unfortunate4 ,it was at ,foucquet's estate of ,vaux near ,maincy that this tapestry factory of short duration was established and soon destroyed4 ,the powerful ,superintendent of ,finance1 with his eye for the beautiful and desire for the luxury of kings1 built for himself such a chateau as only the magnificence of that time produced4 ,it was situated far enough from ,paris to escape any sort of ennui1 and was surrounded by gardens most marvellous1 within a beauteous park4 ,it lay1 when finished1 like a jewel on the fair bosom of ,france4 ,the great superintendent conceived the idea of pleasing the young king1 ,louis ,,xiv1 by inviting the court for a wondrous fete in its lovely enclosure4 ,foucquet was a man of the world1 and of the court1 knew how to please man's lighter side1 and how to use social position for his own ends4 ,france calls him a dilapidateur1 but when his power and incidentally the revenues of state1 were laid out to produce a day of pleasure for king and court1 his taste and ability showed such a fete as could scarce be surpassed even in those days of artistic fetes champetres4 ,the great gardens were brought into use in all the beauty of flower and vine1 of lawn and bosquet1 of terrace and fountain4 ,when the guests arrived1 weary of town life1 they were turned loose in the enchanting place like birds uncaged1 and to the beauty of ,nature was added that of folk as gaily dressed as the flowers4 ,the king was invited to inspect it all for his pleasure1 asked to feast in the gardens1 and to repose in the splendid chateau4 ,he was young then1 in the early twenties1 and luxury was younger then than now1 so he was pleased to spend the time in almost childish enjoyments4 ,a play al fresco was almost a necessity to a royal garden party1 which was no affair of an hour like ours in the busy to-day1 but extended the livelong day and evening4 ,moliere was ready with his sparkling satires at the king's caprice1 and into the garden danced the players before an audience to whom vaudeville and cafe chantant were exclusively a royal novelty arranged for their delectation4 ,it is easy to see the elegant young king and his court in the setting of a sophisticated out-of-doors1 wandering on grassy paths1 lingering under arches of roses1 plucking a flower to nest beside a smiling face1 stopping where servants--obsequious adepts1 they were then--supplied dainty things to eat and drink4 ,madame de ,sevigne was there1 she of the observant eye1 an eye much occupied at this time with the figure of ,superintendent ,foucquet1 the host of this glorious occasion4 ,this gracious lady lacked none of the appearance of frivolity1 coiffed in curls1 draped in lace and soft silks1 but her mind was deeply occupied with the signs of the times4 ,all the elegance of the chateau1 all the seductive beauty of terrace1 garden1 and bosquet1 all the piquant surprises of play and pyrotechnics1 what were they8 ,simply the disinterested effort of a subject to give pleasure to ,his ,majesty1 the ,king4 ,there were those present who had long envied ,foucquet1 with his ever-increasing power and wealth1 his ability to patronise the arts1 to collect1 and even to establish his tapestry looms like a king1 for his own palace and for gifts4 ,this grand fete in the lovely month of ,june did more than shower pleasure1 more than gratify the lust of the eye4 ,in effect1 it was a gathering of exquisite beauties and charming men1 lost in light-hearted play2 in reality1 it proved to be an incitive to envy and malice1 and a means to ruin4 ,among the observant guests at this wondrous fete champetre was ,colbert1 young1 ambitious1 keen4 ,he was not slow to see the holes in ,foucquet's fabric1 nor were others4 ,and so1 whispers came to the king4 ,foucquet's downfall is the old story of envy1 man trying to climb by ruining his superiors1 hating those whose magnificence approaches their own4 ,foucquet's unequalled entertainment of the king was made to count as naught4 ,louis1 even before leaving for ,paris1 had begun to ask whence came the money that purchased this wide fertile estate stretching to the vision's limit1 the money that built the chateau of regal splendour1 the money that paid for the prodigal pleasures of that day of delights8 ,foucquet thought to have gained the confidence and admiration of the king4 ,but1 on leaving1 ,louis said coldly1 ,we shall scarce dare ask you to our poor palace1 seeing the superior luxury to which you are accustomed4 ,a fearful cut1 but only a straw to the fate which followed1 the investigations into the affairs of ,superintendent ,foucquet4 ,his arrest and his conviction followed and then the eighteen dreary years of imprisonment terminating only with the superintendent's life4 ,madame de ,sevigne saw him in the beginning1 wept for her hero1 but after a while she1 too1 fell away from his weary years4 ,illustration3 ,,children ,,gardening ,after ,charles ,lebrun4 ,gobelins1 ,seventeenth ,century4 ,chateau ,henri ,quatre1 ,pau ,illustration3 ,,gobelins ,,grotesque ,musee des ,arts ,decoratifs1 ,paris ,with his arrest came the end of the glories of the ,chateau of ,vaux near ,maincy1 and so1 too1 came an end to the factory where so fine results had been obtained in tapestry weaving4 ,yet the effort was not in vain1 for some of the tapestries remain and the factory was the school where certain celebrated men were trained4 ,it may easily have been that ,louis ,,xiv discovered on that day at ,vaux the excellence of ,lebrun whom he made director at the ,gobelins in ,paris when they were but newly formed4 ,foucquet1 wasting in prison1 had many hours in which to think on this and on the advancement of the very man who had been keenest in running him to cover1 the great ,colbert4 ,it was well for ,france1 it was well for the artistic industry whose history occupies our attention1 that these things happened2 but we1 nevertheless1 feel a weakness towards the man of genius and energy caged and fretted by prison bars1 for he had shown initiative and daring1 qualities of which the world has ever need4 ,foucquet's factory lasted three years4 ,it was directed by ,louis ,blamard or ,blammaert of ,oudenarde1 and employed a weaver named ,jean ,zegre1 who came from the works at ,enghien1 works sufficiently known to be remarked4 ,lebrun composed here and fell under the influence of ,rubens1 an influence that pervaded the grandiose art of the day4 ,the earliest works of ,lebrun1 three pieces1 were later used to complete a set of ,rubens' ,history of ,constantine4 ,the ,muses was a set by ,lebrun1 also composed for the ,chateau of ,vaux4 ,the charm of this set is a matter for admiration even now when1 alas1 all is destroyed but a few fragments4 ,the disgrace of ,foucquet was the last determining cause of the establishment of the ,gobelins factory under ,louis ,,xiv1 an act which after this brief review of ,paris factories 7and an allusion to sporadic cases outside of ,paris7 we are in position at last to consider4 ,pursuit of knowledge in regard to the ,gobelins factory leads us through ways the most flowery and ways the most stormy1 through sunshine and through the dark1 right up to our own times4 ,illustration3 ,,gobelins ,,tapestry1 ,,after ,,lebrun1 ,,epoch ,,louis ,,xiv ,collection of ,wm4 ,baumgarten1 ,esq41 ,new ,york ,illustration3 ,,the ,,village ,,fete ,gobelins ,tapestry after ,teniers ,,footnotes3 #ad ,for the facts here cited see ,e4 ,muentz1 ,histoire de la ,tapisserie1 and ,jules ,guiffrey1 ,les ,gobelins4 #ae ,see ,loriquet1 ,les ,tapisseries de ,notre ,dame de ,rheims4 ,,chapter ,x ,,the ,,gobelins ,,factory1 #affb ,colbert saw the wisdom of taking direction for the king1 ,louis ,,xiv1 of the looms of ,foucquet's chateau4 ,travel being difficult enough to make desirable the concentration of points of interest1 ,colbert transferred the looms of ,vaux to ,paris4 ,to do this he had first to find a habitat1 and what so suitable as the ,hotel des ,gobelins1 a collection of buildings on the edge of ,paris by which ran a little brook called the ,bievre4 ,the ,sieur ,leleu was then the owner1 and the sale of the buildings was made on ,june #f1 #affb4 ,this was the beginning only of the purchase1 for ,louis ,,xiv added adjoining houses for the various uses of the large industries he had in mind1 for the development of arts and crafts of all sorts1 and for the lodging of the workers4 ,the story of the original occupants of the premises is almost too well known to recount4 ,the simple tale of the conscientious dyers in scarlet is told on the marble plaque at the present entry into the collection of buildings still standing1 still open to visitors4 ,it is a tale with a moral1 an obvious simple moral with no need of ,alice's ,duchess to point it out1 and it smacks strong of the honesty of a labour to which we owe so much4 ,late in the ,fifteenth ,century the brothers ,gobelin came to the city of ,paris to follow their trade1 which was dyeing1 and their ambition1 which was to produce a scarlet dye like that they had seen flaunting in the glowing city of ,venice4 ,the trick of the trade in those days was to find a water of such quality that dyes took to it kindly4 ,the tiny river1 or rather brook1 called the ,bievre1 which ran softly down towards the ,seine had the required qualities1 and by its murmuring descent1 ,jean and ,philibert pitched the tents of their fortune4 ,they succeeded1 too1 so well that we hear of their descendants in later centuries as having become gentlemen1 not of property only1 but of cultivation1 and far removed from trades or bartering4 ,their name is ever famous1 for it tells not only the story of the two original dyers1 but of their subsequent efforts in weaving1 and finally it has come to mean the finest modern product of the hand loom4 ,just as ,arras gave the name to tapestry in the ,fourteenth ,century1 so the ,gobelins has given it to the time of ,louis ,,xiv1 even down to our own day--more especially in ,europe1 where the word tapestry is far less used than here4 ,the tablet now at the ,gobelins--let us re-read it1 for in some hasty visit to the ,latin ,quarter we may have overlooked it4 ,translated freely it reads1 ,jean and ,philibert ,gobelin1 merchant dyers in scarlet1 who have left their name to this quarter of ,paris and to the manufacture of tapestries1 had here their atelier1 on the banks of the ,bievre1 at the end of the ,fifteenth ,century4 ,another inscription takes a great leap in time1 skips over the centuries when ,france was not in the lead in this art1 and recommences with the awakening strength under the wise care of ,henri ,,iv4 ,it reads3 ,april #afja4 ,marc ,comans and ,francois de la ,planche1 ,flemish tapestry weavers1 installed their ateliers on the banks of the ,bievre4 ,september #affg1 ,colbert established in the buildings of the ,gobelins the manufacture of the furniture 7meubles7 of the ,crown1 under the direction of ,charles ,lebrun4 ,the tablet omits the date that is fixed in our mind as that of the beginning of the modern tapestry industry in ,france1 the year #affb1 but that is only because it deals with a date of more general importance1 the time when the ,gobelins was made a manufactory of all sorts of gracious products for the luxury of palaces and chateaux1 not tapestries alone1 but superb furniture1 and metal work1 inlay1 mounting of porcelains and all that goes to furnish the home of fortunate men4 ,in that year of #affg was instituted the ateliers supported by the state1 not dependent upon the commercialism of the workers4 ,this made possible the development of such men as ,boulle with his superb furniture1 of ,riesner with his marquetry1 of ,caffieri with his marvels in metal to decorate all meubles1 even vases1 which were then coming from ,china in their beauty of solid glaze or eccentric ornament4 ,here lies the great secret of the success of ,louis ,,xiv in these matters1 with the coffers of the ,crown he rewarded the artists above the necessity of mere living1 and freed each one for the best expression of his own especial art4 ,the day of individual financial venture was gone4 ,the tapestry masters of other times had both to work and to worry4 ,they had to be artists and at the same time commercial men1 a chimerical combination4 ,the expense of maintaining a tapestry factory was an incalculable burden4 ,a man could not set up a loom1 a single one1 as an artist sets up an easel1 and in solitude produce his woven work of art4 ,other matters go to the making of a tapestry than weaving1 matters which have to do with cartoons for the design1 dyes1 wools1 threads1 etc42 so that many hands must be employed1 and these must all be paid4 ,the apprentice system helped much1 but even so1 the master of the atelier was responsible for his finances and must look for a market for his goods4 ,what a relief it was when the king took all this responsibility from the shoulders and said to the artists and artisans1 ,art for ,art's sake1 or whatever was the equivalent shibboleth of that day4 ,here was comfort assured for the worker1 with a housing in the ,gobelins1 or in that big asylum1 the ,louvre1 where an apartment was the reward of virtue4 ,and now was a market assured for a man's work1 a royal market1 with the king as its chief1 and his favourites following close4 ,the ateliers scattered about ,paris were allied in spirit1 were all the result of the encouragement of preceding monarchs1 but it remained for ,le ,grand ,monarque to gather all together and form a state solidarity4 ,kings must have credit1 even though others do the work4 ,it was the labour of the able ,colbert to organise this factory4 ,he was in favour then4 ,it was after his acuteness had helped in deposing the splendid brigand ,foucquet1 and his power was serving ,france well1 so well that he brought about his head the inevitable jealousy which finally threw him1 too1 into unmerited disgrace4 ,colbert1 then1 although a ,minister of ,state1 head of the ,army of ,france1 and a few other things1 had the fate of the ,gobelins in his hand4 ,as the ablest is he who chooses best his aids1 ,colbert looked among his countrymen for the proper director of the newly-organised institution4 ,he selected ,charles ,lebrun4 ,the very name seems enough1 in itself4 ,it is the concrete expression of ability1 not only as an artist1 but as a leader of artists1 a director1 an assembler1 a blender4 ,he called to the ,gobelins1 as addition to those already there1 the apprentices from ,la ,trinite1 the weavers from the ,faubourg ,st4 ,germain1 and from the ,louvre4 ,he established three ateliers of high-warp under ,jean ,jans1 ,jean ,lefebvre and ,henri ,laurent2 also two ateliers of low-warp under ,jean ,delacroix and ,jean-,baptiste ,mozin4 ,when charged with the decoration of ,versailles he had under his direction fifty artists of differing scopes1 which alone would show his power of assembling and leading1 of blending and ordering4 ,workers at the ,gobelins numbered as many as two hundred fifty1 and apprentices were legion4 ,ten or twelve important artists composed the designs for tapestries1 yet the mind of ,lebrun is seen to dominate all2 his genius was their inspiration4 ,it was he whose influence pervaded the decorative art of the day4 ,more than any others in that grand age he influenced the tone of the artistic work4 ,we may say it was the king1 we may have styles named for the king1 but it was ,lebrun who made them what they were4 ,the spirit of the time was there1 monarch and man made that1 but it was ,lebrun who had the talent to express it in art4 ,it was a time when ,france was fully awake1 more fully awake than ,italy who had1 in fact1 commenced the somnolence of her art2 she was strong with that brutal force that is recently up from savagery1 and she took her grandeur seriously4 ,at least that was the attitude of the king4 ,no lightness1 no effervescing cynical humour ever disturbed the heavy splendour of his pose4 ,and this grand pose of the king1 ,lebrun expressed in the heavy sumptuousness of decoration4 ,the tapestries of that time show the mood of the day in subject1 in border and in colour4 ,all is superb1 grandiose4 ,rubens1 although not of ,france1 dominated ,europe with his magnificence of style1 a style suited to the time1 expressing force rather than refinement1 yet with a splendid decorative value in the art we are considering4 ,flanders looked to him for inspiration1 and his lead was everywhere followed4 ,his virile work had power to inspire1 to transmit enthusiasm to others1 and thus he was responsible for much of the improvement in decorative art1 the re-establishment of that art upon an intellectual basis4 ,designs from his hands were full1 splendid and self-assertive2 harmony and proportion were there4 ,a study of the ,antony and ,cleopatra series and of the plates given in this volume will establish and verify this4 ,illustration3 ,,design ,,by ,,rubens ,illustration3 ,,design ,,by ,,rubens ,lebrun's century was the same as that of ,rubens1 but the former had the fine feeling for art of the ,latin1 who knows that its first province is to please4 ,a comparison between the two men must not be carried too far1 for ,rubens was essentially a painter1 attacking the field of decoration only with the overflow of imagination1 while ,lebrun's life and talent were wholly directed in the way of beautifying palaces and chateaux4 ,yet ,rubens' work gave a fresh impulse to tapestry weaving in ,brussels while ,lebrun was inspiring it in ,france4 ,lebrun had1 then1 to direct the talent and the labour of an army of artists and artisans1 and to keep them working in harmony4 ,it was no mean task1 for one artist alone was not left to compose an entire picture1 but each was taken for his specialty4 ,one artist drew the figures1 another the animals1 another the trees1 and another the architecture2 but it was the director1 ,lebrun1 who composed and harmonised the whole4 ,thus1 although the number of tapestries actually composed by him is few1 it was his great mind that ordered the work of others4 ,he was the leader of the orchestra1 the others were the instruments he controlled4 ,it was while at ,vaux that ,lebrun had more time for his own composition4 ,he there produced a series called ,les ,renommes1 masterpieces of pure decorative composition4 ,these were designed as portieres for the ,chateau of ,maincy4 ,they came to be models for the ,gobelins1 and were woven to hang at royal doors1 the doors of ,foucquet being at this time dressed with iron bars4 ,the ,gobelins wove seventy-two sets after this beautiful model which had made ,lebrun's debut as an artist4 ,foucquet had given him a more pretentious work2 it was to complete a suite1 the ,history of ,constantine1 after ,raphael4 ,rubens had given a fresh flush of popularity to this subject1 which again became the mode4 ,the ,history of ,meleager was begun at ,vaux and finished at the ,gobelins4 ,later1 ,vaux forgotten1 or at least a thing of the past1 ,lebrun's decorative genius found expression in the series called ,the ,months or ,the ,royal ,residences1 of which there were twelve hangings4 ,in these last the scheme is the perfection of decoration1 with the subject well subdued1 yet so subtly placed that notwithstanding its modesty1 the eye promptly seeks it4 ,the castle in the distance1 the motive holding aloft the sign of the ,zodiac1 are seen even before the splendid columns and the foliage of the middle-ground4 ,such a hanging has power to play pretty tricks with the imagination of him who gazes upon it4 ,the columns1 smooth and solid1 declare him at once to be in a place of luxury4 ,beyond the foreground's columns1 but near enough for touching1 are trees to make a pleasant shade1 and beyond1 in the far distance1 is the chateau set in fair gardens1 even the chateau where the lovely ,louise de la ,valliere held her court until conscience drove her to the convent4 ,the set of most renown1 woven under ,lebrun's generalship1 was that splendid advertisement of the king's magnificence known as the ,history of the ,king4 ,louis demanded above all else that he should appear splendidly before men4 ,he was jealous of the magnificence of all kings and emperors1 whether living or dead4 ,even ,solomon's glory was not to typify greater than his4 ,with this end in view1 pomp was his pleasure1 ceremony was his gratification4 ,add to these an insatiable vanity that knows not the disintegrating assaults of a sense of humour1 and we have a man to be fed on profound adulation4 ,illustration3 ,,design ,,by ,,rubens ,illustration3 ,,gobelins ,,tapestry4 ,,design ,,by ,,rubens ,royal ,collection1 ,madrid ,the subjects for the ,history of the ,king were chosen from official solemnities during the first twelve years of his reign4 ,lebrun's task1 into which he threw his whole soul1 was to celebrate the power and the glory of his master1 to show the king in perpetual picture as the greatest living personage1 and to still his fears with regard to long defunct royal rivals4 ,his life as a man was pictured1 his marriage1 his treaties with other nations1 and his actions as a soldier in the various battles or military conquests4 ,in the latter affairs he had not even been present1 but poet's license was given where the glorification of the king was concerned4 ,the flattery that surrounds a king thus gave him reason to think that his persecutions in the ,palatinate and his constant warfare were greatly to his glory4 ,it is the tapestry in this set that is called ,visit of ,louis ,,xiv to the ,gobelins that interests us strongly1 as being delightfully pertinent to our subject4 ,the picture shows the king in chary indulgence standing just within the court of the ,royal ,factory1 while eager masters of arts and crafts strenuously heap before him their masterpieces4 7,plate facing page #aad47 ,the borders of these sumptuous hangings are to be enjoyed when the original set can be seen1 for the borders are ,lebrun's special care4 ,the three pieces added late in the reign are drawn with different borders1 and no stronger example of deteriorating change can be given1 the change in the composition of the border which took place after the passing of ,lebrun4 ,the pieces in the set of the ,life of the ,king numbered forty2 with the addition of the later ones1 forty-three4 ,they were repeated many times in the succeeding years1 but on low-warp1 reduced in size1 and without the superb decorative border which was composed by ,lebrun's own hand for the original series4 ,francois de la ,meulen was ,lebrun's able coadjutor in the direction of this famous set4 ,eight artists accustomed to the work were charged with the cartoons1 but ,lebrun headed it all4 ,it is interesting to note that the temptation to sport in the fields of pure decoration1 led him into the personal composition of the border4 ,these borders are the very acme of perfection in decoration1 full of strength1 of grace1 and of purity4 ,they suggest the classic1 yet are full of the warm blood of the hour2 they are ,greek1 yet they are ,french1 and they foreshadow the centuries of beautiful design which ,france supplies to the world4 ,the colouring of these tapestries seems to us strong1 but it is not a strength of tone that offends1 rather it adds force to the subject4 ,the charge is made that in this suite the deplorable change had taken place which lifted tapestries from their original intent and made of them paintings in wool4 ,that change certainly did come later1 as we shall see and deplore1 but at present the colours kept comparatively low in number4 ,the proof of this was that only seventy-nine tones were discoverable when the ,gobelins factory in recent years examined this hanging for the purposes of reproducing it4 ,illustration3 ,,louis ,,xiv ,,visiting ,,the ,,gobelins ,,factory ,gobelins ,tapestry1 ,epoch ,louis ,,xiv ,lebrun's task in this series seems to us far more simple in point of picturesqueness than it did to him1 for the affairs of the time were those depicted4 ,they were the events of the moment1 and the personages taking part in them were given in recognisable portraiture4 ,figure a tapestry of to-day depicting the laying of a cornerstone by our ,national ,president1 every one in modern dress1 every face a portrait1 and ,lebrun's task appears in a new light4 ,yet he was able to accomplish it in a way which gratified the overfed vanity of ,louis and which more than gratifies the art lover of to-day4 ,the set called the ,history of ,alexander is one of ,lebrun's famous works4 ,in subject it departs from the affairs of the time of the ,sun ,king1 to portray the ,greek ,conqueror1 to whom ,louis liked to be compared4 ,for us the classic dress is less piquant than the gorgeous toilettes of ,france in the ,seventeenth ,century1 and the battle of the ,granicus is less engaging than scenes from the life of ,louis ,,xiv4 ,but this is a famous set1 and paintings of the same may be found in the ,louvre4 ,originally the tapestries were but five1 but the larger ones having been divided into three each1 the number is increased4 ,the ,gobelins factory wove several sets1 and1 the model becoming popular1 it was copied many times in ,brussels and elsewhere1 often with distressing alterations in drawing1 in border1 and in colour4 ,there were other suites produced at the ,gobelins at this wonderful time of co-operation between ,colbert1 the minister1 and ,lebrun1 the artist4 ,colbert1 in his wisdom of state economy1 had repaired the ravages of the previous ministry1 and had the coffers full for the government's necessities and the king's indulgences4 ,well for the liberal arts1 that he counted these among the matters to be fostered in this wonderful time1 which rises like a mountain ridge between feudal savagery and modern civilisation4 ,but ,colbert1 powerful as was his position1 had yet to suffer by reason of the despotism of the absolute monarch who ruled every one within borders of bleeding ,france4 ,louis began1 before youth had left him1 the terrible persecution of the people in the name of religion1 and established also an indulgent left-hand court4 ,the prodigious expenditures for these were bound to be liquidated by ,colbert4 ,faithful to his master1 he produced the money4 ,the charm of royalty surrounded ,louis1 he was idealised by a people proud of his position as the most magnificent monarch of ,europe2 but ,colbert was denounced as a tax collector and a persecutor1 yet suffered in silence1 if he might protect his king4 ,before he died1 ,louvois had undermined his credit even with the king1 and his funeral at night1 to avoid a mob1 was a pathetic fact4 ,france has now reinstated him1 say modern men--but that is the irony of fate4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,the ,,gobelins ,,factory 7,continued7 ,colbert died most inopportunely in #afhd and was succeeded by his enemy1 and for that matter1 the enemy of ,france1 the man of jealousy and cruelty1 ,louvois4 ,he had long hated ,colbert for his success1 counting as an affront to himself ,colbert's marvellous establishment of a navy which he felt rivalled in importance the army1 over which the direction was his own4 ,on finding ,colbert's baton in his hand1 it was but human to strike with it as much as to direct1 and one of his blows fell upon the head of the ,gobelins1 ,lebrun4 ,thus history is woven into tapestry4 ,lebrun was not at once deposed2 first his magnificent wings were clipped1 so that his flights into artistic originality were curtailed4 ,this petty persecution had a benumbing effect4 ,new models were not encouraged4 ,strangely enough1 the scenes that glorified the king were no longer reproduced1 nor those of antique kings like ,alexander1 whose greatness ,louis was supposed to rival4 ,it is not possible to tell the story of tapestry without telling the story of the times1 for the lesser acts are but the result of the greater4 ,there are matters in the life of ,louis ,,xiv that are inseparable from our account4 ,these are the associating of his life with that of the three women whom he exalted far higher than his queen1 ,marie ,therese1 the well-known1 much-vaunted mesdames1 de la ,valliere1 de ,montespan and de ,maintenon4 ,even before the death of ,colbert1 ,louvois1 with his army1 had encouraged the religious persecutions and wars of the king1 and shortly after1 the widow of the poet ,scarron became the royal spouse4 ,relentless1 indeed1 were the persecutions then4 ,it was in the same year of the marriage that ,louis revoked the ,edict of ,nantes1 through the hand of the weak ,le ,tellier1 an action which gave ,louvois ample excuse for depleting the state coffers4 ,making military expense an excuse1 he turned his blighting hand toward the ,gobelins and restricted the director1 ,lebrun1 even to denying him the golden threads so necessary for the production of the sumptuous tapestries4 ,and so for a time the productions of the looms lacked their accustomed elegance4 ,under ,madame de ,maintenon1 the spirit of a morose religion pervaded the court4 ,all ,france was suffering under it1 and in its name unbelievable horrors were perpetrated in every province4 ,paris was not too well informed of these to interfere with bourgeois life1 but at court the hypocritical soul of ,madame de ,maintenon made self-righteousness a virtue4 ,an almost laughable result of this pious rectitude was a certain order given at the ,gobelins4 ,madame de ,maintenon had thrust her leading nose between the doors of the factory and had scented outraged modesty in the reproduction there of the tapestries woven from models of ,raphael1 ,giulio ,romano and the classicists1 cartoons in great favour after the hampering of ,lebrun's imagination4 ,the naked gods from ,olympus must be clothed1 said this pious and modest lady4 ,this was very well for her role1 as her influence over the king lay deep-rooted in her pose of heavy virtue2 but at the ,gobelins1 the tapestry-makers must have laughed long and loud at the prudery which they were set to further by actually weaving pictured garments and setting them into the hangings where the lithe limbs of ,apollo1 and ,venus' lovely curves1 had been cut away4 ,the hanging called ,the ,judgment of ,paris is one of those altered to suit the refinement of the times4 ,louvois' dominance lasted as long as ,lebrun1 so the genius of the latter never reasserted itself in the factory4 ,two methods of supply for designs came in vogue1 and mark the time4 ,one was to turn to the old masters of ,italy's high ,renaissance for drawings4 ,this brought a quantity of drawings of fables and myths into use1 so that palace walls were decorated with ,greek gods instead of modern ones4 ,raphael1 as a master in decoration1 was carefully copied1 also other men of his school4 ,the second source of cartoons was chosen by ,louvois1 who searched among previous works for the most celebrated tapestries and had them copied without change4 ,thus came the ,gobelins to reproduce hangings that had not originated in their ateliers4 ,all this traces the change that came from the clipping of ,lebrun's wings of genius4 ,identification marks they are1 when old tapestries come our way4 ,pierre ,mignard succeeded ,lebrun as director of the ,gobelins after the death of the greatest genius of decoration in modern times4 ,lebrun had seen such prosperity of tapestry weaving that eight hundred workers had scarcely been enough to supply the tapestries ordered4 ,when ,mignard came for his five years of direction1 things had mightily changed1 and he did nothing to revive or encourage the work4 ,he owed his appointment entirely to ,louvois1 whose protege he had long been4 ,the same year1 #afia1 saw the death of them both4 ,until #afhh the factory was at its best time of productiveness1 reaching the perfection of modern drawing in its cartoons1 and1 in its weaving1 equalling the manner of ,brussels in the early ,sixteenth ,century4 ,from then on began the decline1 for the reasons so forcibly written on pages of history4 ,the ,french king's ambition to conquer1 his animosity--jealousy1 if you will--toward ,holland1 his unceasing conflict with ,england1 added to his fierce attacks on religionists1 especially in the ,palatinate--all these things required the most stupendous expenditures4 ,the ,mississippi was now discovered1 the ,english colonists were in conflict with the ,french1 here in ,america1 and the ,new ,world was becoming too desirable a possession for ,louis to be willing to cede his share without a struggle2 and thus came the expense of fighting the ,english in that far land which was at least thirty days' sail away4 ,perhaps ,mignard worked against odds too great for even a strong director4 ,such drains on the state treasury as were made by the self-indulgent court1 and by the political necessities1 demanded not only depriving the ,gobelins of proper expensive materials1 but in the department of furniture and ornaments1 demanded also the establishment of a sinister melting pot1 a hungry mouth that devoured the precious metals already made more precious by the artistic hands of the gold-working artists4 ,mignard's futile work was finished by his demise in #afie4 ,such was then the pitiable conditions at the ,gobelins that it was not considered worth while to fill his place4 ,thus ended the first period of that beautiful conception1 art sustained by the state1 artists relieved from all care except that of expressing beauty4 ,the ateliers were closed2 the weavers had to seek other means of gaining their living4 ,the busy ,gobelins1 a very ,paradise of workers1 an establishment which felt itself the pride of ,paris and the pet of the king1 full of merry apprentices and able masters1 this happy solidarity fell under neglect4 ,the courtyards were lonely2 the ,bievre rippled by unused2 the buildings were silent and deserted4 ,some of the workers were happy enough to be taken in at ,beauvais1 some returned to ,flanders1 but many were at the miserable necessity of dropping their loved professions and of joining the royal troops1 for which the relentless ambition of the king had such large and terrible use4 ,the time when the factory remained inactive were the dolorous years from #afid to #afig4 ,it was in the latter year that peace was signed in the ,holland town of ,ryswick1 which ended at least one of ,louis' bloody oppressions1 the fierce attacks in the ,palatinate4 ,the place of ,colbert was never filled1 so far as the ,gobelins was concerned4 ,louvois had not its interests in his hard hands1 nor had his immediate followers in state administrations up to #agjh1 which included ,mansard 7of the roofs7 and the flippity courtesan1 the ,duc d',antin4 ,but power was later given to ,jules ,robert de ,cotte to raise the fallen ,gobelins by his own wise direction1 assisted by his father's political co-operation 7#afii-agce74 ,once again can we smile in thinking of the factory where the wares of beauty were produced4 ,of course1 the artists flocked to the centre1 eager to express themselves4 ,the one most interesting to us was ,claude ,audran4 ,others there were who contributed adorable designs and helped build up the most exquisite expressions of modern art1 but1 alas1 their modesty was such that their names are scarce known in connexion with the art they vivified4 ,the aged ,louis was ending his forceful reign in increasing weakness1 deserted at the finish by all but the rigid de ,maintenon2 and four-year-old ,louis1 the grandson of the ,grand ,dauphin1 was succeeding under the direction of the ,regent of ,orleans4 ,new monarchs1 new styles1 the rule was2 for the newly-crowned must have his waves of flattery curling about the foot of the throne4 ,louis ,,xiv1 the ,grand ,monarque1 lived to his pose of heavy magnificence even in the furnishing and decorating of the apartments where he ruled as king and where he lived as man4 ,sumptuous splendour1 expressed in heavy design1 in deep colouring1 with much red and gold1 these were the order of the day1 and best expressed the reign4 ,but with ,philip as regent1 and the young king but a baby1 a gayer mood must creep into the articles of beauty with which man self-indulgently decorates his surroundings4 ,pomp of a heavy sort had no place in the regent's heart4 ,he saw life lightly1 and liked to foster the belief that a man might make of it a pretty play4 ,thus1 given so good excuse for a new school of decoration1 ,claude ,audran snatched up his talented brush and put down his dainty inspirations with unfaltering delicacy of touch4 ,he wrote upon his canvas poems in life1 symphonies in colour1 created a whole world of tasteful fancy1 a world whose entire intent was to please4 ,he left the heavy ways of pomp and revelled in a world where roses bloom and ribbons flutter1 where clouds are strong to support the svelte deity upon them1 and where the rudest architecture is but an airy trellis4 ,the classic1 the ,greek1 he never forgot4 ,it was ever his inspiration1 his alphabet with which he wrote the spirit of his composition1 but it was a classic thought played upon with the most talented of variations4 ,pure ,greek was too cold and chaste for the temper of the time in which he lived and worked and of which he was the creature2 and so his classic foundation was graced with curves1 with colour1 with artful abandon1 and all the charming fripperies of one of the most exquisite periods of decoration4 ,gods and goddesses were a necessary part of such compositions1 and a continual playing among amorini1 but such deities lived not upon ,olympus1 nor anywhere outside ,france of the ,eighteenth ,century4 ,the heavy human forms made popular by the inflation of the ,seventeenth ,century were banished to some dark haven reserved for by-gone modes1 and these new gods were exquisite as fairies while voluptuous as courtesans4 ,they were all caught young and set1 while still adolescent and slender1 in suitable niches of delicate surroundings4 ,the talent of ,audran1 not content with figures alone1 was lavishly expended on those ingenious decorative designs which formed the frame and setting of the figures1 the airy world in which they lived and in the borders that confined the whole4 ,only a study of tapestries or their photographs can show the radical depth of the change from the styles prevailing under the influence of ,madame de ,maintenon to those produced by ,audran and his school under the regence4 ,the difference in character of the two dominations is the very evident cause4 ,it is as though the severe moral pose of de ,maintenon had suppressed a whole ,pandora's box of loves and graces who1 when the lid was lifted by the ,regent1 flew1 a happy crew1 to fix themselves in dainty decorative effect1 trailing with them their complement of accessory flowers1 butterflies1 clouds and tempered grotesques4 ,philippe d',orleans1 under the influence of the corrupt cleverness of ,cardinal du ,bois1 celebrated the few years of his regency by bankrupting ,france with ,john ,law's financial fallacies 7this was the time of the ,south ,sea ,bubble and the ,mississippi scheme7 and by returning to ,spain her princess as unsuited for the boy king's mate--with war as the natural result of that insult4 ,but he also let artists have their way1 and the style that they supplied him1 shows a talented invention unsurpassed4 ,audran we will place at the top1 but only to fix a name1 for there was a whole army of men composing the tapestry designs that so delighted the people of those days and that have gone on thrilling their beholders for two hundred years1 and which distinguish ,french designs from all others--which give them that indefinable quality of grace and softness that we denominate ,french4 ,wizards in design were the artists who developed it and those who continue it in our own times4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,the ,,gobelins ,,factory 7,continued7 ,audran had in his studio ,andre ,watteau1 whose very name spells sophisticated pastorals of exceeding loveliness4 ,watteau worked with ,audran when he was producing his most inspired set of tapestry1 on which we must dwell for a bit for pure pleasure4 ,this set is called the ,portieres des ,dieux4 ,that they were portieres1 only door-hangings1 is a fact too important to be slipped by4 ,it denotes one of the greatest changes in tapestries when the size of a hanging comes down from twenty or thirty feet to the dimensions of a doorway4 ,it speaks a great change in interiors1 and sets tapestries on a new plane4 ,later on1 they are still further diminished4 ,but the sadness of noting this change is routed by the thrills of pleasure given by the exquisite design1 colour and weave4 ,the ,portieres of the ,gods was1 then1 a series of eight small hangings1 four typifying the seasons and four the elements1 with an appropriate ,olympian forming the central point of interest and the excuse for an entourage of thrilling and graceful versatility4 ,this set has been copied so many times that even the most expert must fail in trying to identify the date of reproduction4 ,two hundred and thirty times this set is known to have been reproduced1 and such talented weavers were given the task as ,jans and ,lefebvre4 ,illustration3 ,,gobelins ,,tapestry4 ,,time ,,of ,,louis ,,xv ,in this exquisite period1 which might be called the adolescence of the style ,louis ,,xv1 ,audran and his collaborators produced another marvellous and inspired set of portieres4 ,these were executed for the ,grand ,dauphin1 to decorate his room in the chateau at ,meudon1 and were called the ,grotesque ,months in ,bands4 ,the most self-sufficient of pens would falter at a description of design so exquisite1 which is arranged in three panels with a deity in each1 a composition of extraordinary grace above and below them1 and a bordering band of losenge or diaper1 on which is set the royal double ,l and the significant dolphin who gave his name to kings' sons4 ,the exquisite art of ,audran and of the regence cannot be better seen than in this set of tapestries which was woven but once at the royal factory1 although repeated many times elsewhere with the border altered1 ,audran's being too personal for other chambers than that of the prince for whom it was composed4 ,recently copies have been made without border4 ,the name of the artist1 ,charles ,coypel1 must not be overlooked1 for it was he who composed the celebrated suite of ,don ,quixote4 ,twenty-eight pieces composed the series1 and they were drawn with that exquisite combination of romantic scenes and fields of pure decorative design that characterised the charm of the regence4 ,in the centre of each piece 7small pieces compared to those of ,louis ,,xiv7 was a scene like a painting representing an incident from the adventure of the humorously pathetic ,spanish wanderer2 and this was surrounded with so much of refined decoration as to make it appear but a medallion on the whole surface4 ,this set was so important as to be repeated many times and occupied the factory of the ,gobelins from #agah to #agid4 ,charles ,coypel was but twenty when he composed the first design for this suite4 ,each year thereafter he added a new design1 not supplying the last one until #agea4 ,but1 while all honour is due ,coypel1 ,audran and ,le ,maire and their collaborators must be remembered as having composed the borders1 the pure decorative work which expresses the tender style of transition1 the suggestive period of early spring that later matured into the fulsome ,rococo4 ,america is enriched by five of these exquisite pieces through ,mr4 ,morgan's recent purchase4 ,but while artists were producing purity in art1 those in political power were1 with ever-increasing effect1 plunging morals into the mud4 ,philippe1 the ,regent1 died1 the corrupt ,duke of ,bourbon took the place of minister1 and poor ,louis ,,xv was still but thirteen years old1 and unavoidably influenced by the lives of those around him4 ,even the ,gobelins was under the hand of the shallow ,duke d',antin4 ,yet even when the king matured and became himself a power for corruption1 the artists of the ,gobelins reflected only beauty and light4 ,it is to their credit4 ,it is an ungrateful task to pick flaws with a period so firmly enthroned in the affections as that of the regence and the early years of the reign of ,louis ,,xv4 ,the beauties of its pure decoration lead us into ,elysian fields that are but reluctantly left behind4 ,but the designs and tapestry weavers of that time left us two distinct classes of production1 and to be learned in such matters1 the amateur contemplates both4 ,this second style is ungrateful because it trains us away from art1 delicate and ingenious1 and plants us before enormous woven paintings4 ,now it never had been the intention of tapestry to replace painting4 ,whenever it leaned that way a deterioration was evident4 ,it was by the lure of this fallacy that ,brussels lost her pre-eminence4 ,it was through this that the number of tones was increased from the twenty or more of ,arras to the twenty thousand of the ,gobelins4 ,it was through this that the true mission of tapestry was lost1 which was the mission of supplying a soft1 undulating lining to the habitat of man1 and flashes of colour for his pageants4 ,under ,louis ,,xiv the pictures came thick and fast1 as we have seen1 but in deep-toned1 simple colour-scheme4 ,now1 with the ,de ,cottes as directors at the ,gobelins1 and with a new reign begun1 more pictures were called for4 ,the splendid ,history of the ,king of ,louis ,,xiv could not be forgotten2 the history of his successor must be similarly represented1 and what could this be but a series of woven paintings4 ,the flower of the time was an exquisitely complicated decoration on a small scale4 ,the larger expression was not spontaneous4 ,louis ,,xv1 poor boy1 was not old enough to have had many events outside the nursery1 so it took imagination--perhaps that of the elegant profligate1 ,duke d',antin--to suggest an occasion of appropriate splendour and significance4 ,the official reception of the ,turkish ambassador in #agba was the subject chosen1 and under the direction of ,charles ,parrocel became a superb work1 full of court magnificence of the day and a valuable portrayal to us of the boyhood of the king4 ,the same type of big picture was continued in the series of ,hunts of ,louis ,,xv1 lovely forest scenes wherein much unsportsmanlike elegance displays itself in the persons of noble courtiers4 ,the ,duc d',antin favoured these and they were reproduced until #agde4 ,it is probable that the ,bible fell into neglect in those days1 too heavy a volume for pointed1 perfumed fingers accustomed to no books at all4 ,bossuet1 ,voltaire1 were they not obliged to set to the sonorous music of their voices the reforming and satirical attacks on manners and morals of the aristocrats at a time when books lay all unread8 ,but at the ,gobelins ateliers the ,bible1 wiped clean of dust1 was much consulted for inspiration in cartoons4 ,charles ,coypel dipped into the ,old ,testament1 and ,jouvenet into the ,new1 with the result of several suites of tapestries of great elegance--all of which might much better have been painted on canvas and framed4 ,charles ,coypel1 the talented member of a talented family of painters1 also made popular the heroine ,armide1 who seemed almost to come of the ,bible1 since ,tasso had set her in his ,christian ,jerusalem ,delivered4 ,the seductive palace and entrancing gardens where ,renaud was kept a prisoner1 gave opportunity for fine drawing in this set4 ,illustration3 ,,hunts ,,of ,,louis ,,xv ,gobelins1 ,g4 ,audran after ,cartoon by ,oudry ,illustration3 ,,esther ,,and ,,ahasuerus ,,series ,gobelins1 about #agcj4 ,cartoon by ,j4 ,f4 de ,troy2 ,g4 ,audran1 weaver ,the ,iliad of ,homer came in for its share of consideration at the hands of ,antoine and ,charles ,coypel1 who made of it a set of five scenes4 ,it was ,romanelli1 the ,italian1 who painted a similar set1 a hundred years before1 for ,cardinal ,barberini1 which set came to ,america in the ,ffoulke collection4 ,after the death1 in #agcj1 of the ,duke d',antin1 that interesting son of ,madame de ,montespan1 several directors had the management of the ,gobelins in hand1 the ,count of ,vignory and the ,count of ,angivillier being the most important prior to the ,revolution4 ,these were men who held the purse-strings of the state1 and could thereby foster or crush a state institution1 but the direction of the ,gobelins itself1 as a factory1 was in the hands of architects1 beginning with the able ,de ,cotte4 ,as the factory had many ateliers1 these were each directed by painters1 among whom appear such interesting men of talent as ,oudry1 ,boucher1 ,halle4 ,although d',antin was dead when it commenced1 he is accredited with having inspired and ordered the important hanging known as the ,history of ,esther4 7,plate facing page #aca47 ,the first piece1 from cartoons by ,jean ,francois de ,troy1 was sent to the weavers in #agcg1 and the last piece1 which was painted in ,rome1 was finished in #agdb4 ,this set shows as ably as any can1 the magnificent style of production of the period4 ,it had from the beginning an immense popularity and was copied many times4 ,even now it is a favourite subject for those whose perverted taste leads them into the dubious art of copying tapestry in paints on cloth4 ,the serious accusation against this set1 which in composition seems much like the tableaux in grand opera1 is that it invades the art of painting4 ,and that is the fault of woven art at that period4 ,the decline in tapestry in ,paris began when both weavers and painters struggled for the same results1 the weavers quite forgetting the strength and beauty that were peculiar to their art alone4 ,this fault cannot be laid to the weavers only1 who numbered such men as ,neilson the able ,scot1 and ,cozette1 who1 with wondrous touch1 wove the set of ,don ,quixote2 nor were the artists at fault1 for they included such men as ,audran and ,boucher4 ,no1 it was the director who blighted and subverted talent1 and the vitiated public taste that shifted restlessly and demanded novelty4 ,the novelty that came in large hangings was a suppressing of the delicate subjects that delight the imagination by their playful grace1 their association of human life with all that is gaily exquisite4 ,the mode was for leaving the land of idealised mythology1 for discarding the flowers1 the scrolls1 the happy loves and charming crew that lived among them1 and for plunging into ,roman history1 real and ugly1 enwrapped in drapings too full1 cumbered with forced accessory1 or into such mythology as is represented in ,cupid and ,psyche4 7,plate facing page #acb47 ,the ,history of ,esther illustrates the loss of imagination sustained by the border which had come to be a mere woven imitation1 in shades of brown and yellow1 of a carved and gilded1 wooden frame4 ,at the close of the reign of ,louis ,,xv1 borders were frankly abandoned altogether4 ,compare this state of things with the days when ,audran and ,coypel were producing the sets of ,the ,seasons1 ,the ,months1 and ,don ,quixote4 ,it is aridness compared to talented invention4 ,illustration3 ,,cupid ,,and ,,psyche ,gobelins ,tapestry4 ,eighteenth ,century4 ,design by ,coypel ,illustration3 ,,portrait ,,of ,,catherine ,,of ,,russia ,gobelins under ,louis ,,xvi4 ,the top note of the imitation of painting was struck when the ,gobelins set the task of becoming a portrait maker4 7,plate facing page #acc47 ,the work was done1 it was bound to be1 as royalty backed the demand4 ,portraits were woven of ,louis ,,xv 7to be seen now at ,versailles71 and his queen1 of ,louis ,,xvi and ,marie ,antoinette1 and others less well known4 ,a better scheme for limiting the talent of the weaver could not have been suggested by his most ingenious enemy4 ,he was a man of talent or his art had not reached so high1 and as such must be untrammelled2 but here was given him a work where personal discretion was not allowed1 where he must copy tone for tone1 shade by shade1 the myriad indefinite blendings of the brush4 ,it is this practice1 pursued to its end1 that has made of the tapestry weaver a mere part of a machine1 and tapestry-making a lost art1 to remain in obscurity until weavers return to the time before the ,french decadence4 ,the temper of those who hold in their hands the direction of the people1 these are the determining causes of the products of that age4 ,if d',angivillier was responsible for displacing a transcendent art with a false one1 if he routed a dainty mythology and its accessories with the heavy effort and paraphernalia of the ,romans1 on whom shall we place the entirely supportable responsibility of diminishing tapestries from noble draperies down to mere furniture coverings8 ,the result came happily1 with much fluttering of fans1 dropping of handkerchiefs1 with powder1 patches1 intrigues1 naughty sports1 and a general necessity for a gay company to divide itself into groups of four or two--a lady and a cavalier1 forsooth--the inevitable man and maid4 ,in the time of the preceding king1 ,louis ,,xiv1 the court lived in masses4 ,life was a pageant1 a grand one1 moving in slow dignity of gorgeous crowds1 but a pageant on which beat the fierce light of a throne jealous of its grandeur4 ,no chance was here for sweet escape and no chance for light communing4 ,but all that saw a change4 ,the needs of the lighter court and the lighter people1 were for reminders that life is a merry dance in which partners change often1 and sitting-out a figure with one of them is part of the game4 ,perhaps the huge apartments were not to the taste of ,regent ,philippe1 and certainly they were not convenient to the life of the king when he came to man's estate4 ,so1 down came the ceiling's height1 and closer drew the walls1 until the model of the ,petit ,trianon was reached and considered the ideal--if that were not indeed the miniature ,swiss ,cottage4 ,what place had an acre of tapestry in these little rooms8 ,how could yards of undulating colour hang over walls that were already overlaid with the most exquisite low relief in wood that has ever been carved this side of the ,renaissance in ,italy8 ,no place for it whatever4 ,so1 out with it--the fashions have changed4 ,but there was the furniture4 ,that1 too1 was smaller than hitherto4 ,but this was the day of artists skilled in small design1 and they must fill the need4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,the ,,gobelins ,,factory 7,continued7 ,and so it came about that tapestry fell from the walls1 shrunk like a pricked balloon and landed in miniature on chairs1 sofas and screens4 ,how felt the artists about this domesticating of their art8 ,we are not told of the wry face they made when1 with ideals in their souls1 they were set to compose chair-seats for the ,pompadour4 ,her preference was for ,boucher4 ,perhaps his revenge showed itself by treating the bourgeoise courtisane to a bit of coarseness now and then1 slyly hid in dainties4 ,the artist1 ,louis ,tessier1 appeased himself by composing for furniture a design of simple bouquets of flowers thrown on a damask background2 but1 with such surety of hand1 such elegance1 are these ornaments designed and composed1 that he who but runs past them must feel the power of their exquisite beauty4 ,in this manufacture of small pieces the ,gobelins factory unhappily put itself on the same footing as ,beauvais and much confusion of the products has since resulted4 ,the dignity of the art was lowered when the size and purpose of tapestries were reduced to mere furniture coverings4 ,the age of ,louis ,,xv1 looked at decoratively1 was an age of miniature1 and the reign that followed was the same4 ,when small chambers came into vogue1 furniture diminished to suit them1 and not only were walls too small for tapestries to hang on1 but chairs1 sofas and screens offered less space than ever before for woven designs1 now preciously fine in quality and minutiae4 ,tapestry weaving now entered the region of fancy-work for the drawing-room's idle hour1 and we see even the king himself1 lounging idly among his favourite companions1 working at a tiny loom1 his latest pretty toy4 ,compare this trifling with the attitude of ,henri ,,iv and ,louis ,,xiv toward tapestry weaving1 and we have the situation in a nutshell4 ,louis ,,xv passed from the scene1 likewise the charming bits of immorality who danced through his reign4 ,however much we may disapprove their manner of life1 we are ever glad that their taste sanctioned--more than that--urged1 the production of a decorative style almost unsurpassed4 ,to the artists belong the glory1 but times were such that an artist must die of suppression if those in power refuse to patronise his art4 ,so we are glad that ,antoinette ,poisson appreciated art1 and that ,jeanne ,verbernier made of it a serious consideration1 for1 what was liked by ,la ,pompadour and ,du ,barry must needs be favoured by the king4 ,when ,louis ,,xvi came to the throne1 the return to antiquity for inspiration had already begun1 but did not fully develop until later on1 when ,david became court painter under ,napoleon4 ,yet the tonic note of decoration was classic4 ,designs were still small and details were from ,greek inspiration4 ,as tapestries were still but furniture coverings1 this was not to be regretted1 for nothing could be better suited to small spaces1 nor could drawing be more exquisitely pure and chaste than when copied from ,greek detail4 ,illustration3 ,,chair ,,of ,,tapestry4 ,,style ,,of ,,louis ,,xv ,illustration3 ,,gobelins ,,tapestry 7,,detail7 ,,cramoisee4 ,,style ,,louis ,,xv ,count d',angivillier kept the ,gobelins factory from all originality1 sanctioned only the small wares for original work1 and forced a slavish copying of paintings for the larger pieces4 ,it is not deniable that some beautiful hangings were produced1 but the sad result is that pieces of so many tones lose in value year by year1 through the gentle1 inexorable touch of time2 and1 more deplorable yet1 the ambition and the originality of the master-weavers was deprived of its very life-blood1 and in time was utterly atrophied4 ,in the time of ,louis ,,xvi1 when ,marie ,antoinette was in the flower of her inconsiderate elegance1 the note of the day was for art to be small1 but perfect2 the worth of a work of art was determined by its size--in inverse ratio4 ,it was a time lively and intellectual and frivolous1 and its art was the reflection of its desire for concentrated completeness4 ,in the reign of ,louis ,,xvi ripened1 not the art of ,louis ,,xiv1 but the political situation whose seeds he had planted4 ,the idea of revolution which started in the little-considered ,american colonies1 took hold of the thinkers of ,france1 even to the king of little power4 ,but instead of being a theory of remedy for important men to discuss1 it acted as a fire-brand thrown among the inflammable1 long-oppressed ,third ,estate--with results deplorable to the art which occupies our attention4 ,the ,gobelins was already suffering at the debut of the ,revolution4 ,its management had been relegated to men more or less incapable2 its art standards had been forced lower and lower4 ,added to that its operatives were engaged at lessened rates and often had to whistle for their pay at that4 ,the contractors asked for nothing better than to be engaged as masters of ateliers at fixed rates4 ,then came the full force of the ,revolution with such deplorable and tragic results for the ,gobelins4 ,in the madness of the time the workers here were not exempt from the terrible call of ,robespierre4 ,the almoner of the factory was arrested1 and at the end of two months not even a record existed of his execution1 which took place among the daily feasts of ,la ,guillotine4 ,a high-warp weaver named ,mangelschot met the same fate4 ,jean ,audran1 once contractor for high-warp1 then placed at the head of the factory1 was arrested1 but escaped with imprisonment only4 ,during his absence he was replaced as head by ,augustin ,belle1 whose respect for the ,republic and for his head made him curry favour with the mob in a manner most deplorable4 ,he caused the destruction by fire of many and many a superb tapestry at the ,gobelins1 giving as his reason that they contained emblems of royalty1 reminders of the hated race of kings4 ,the amateur can almost weep in thinking of this ruthless waste of beauty4 ,it was a celebrated bonfire that was built in the courtyard of the ,gobelins when1 by order of the ,committee on ,selection1 all things offensive to an over-sensitive republican irritability were heaped for the holocaust4 ,as the ,gobelins was instituted by a king1 patronised by kings1 its works made in the main for palaces and pageants after the taste of kings1 it was only too easy to find tapestries meet for a fire that had as object the destruction of articles displaying monarchical power4 ,during the four horrid years when terror reigned1 the workers at the ,gobelins continued under a constant threat of a cessation of work4 ,not only was their pay irregular1 but it was often given in paper that had sadly depreciated in value4 ,then the decision was made to sell certain valuable tapestries and pay expenses from this source of revenue4 ,but1 alas1 in those troublous times1 who had heart or purse to acquire works of art4 ,a whole skin and food to sustain it1 were the serious objects of life4 ,under the ,directory1 funds were scarce in bleeding ,france1 and all sorts of ways were used to raise them4 ,in the past times when ,louis ,,xiv had by relentless extravagance and wars depleted the purse1 he caused the patiently wrought precious metals to be melted into bullion4 ,why not now resort to a similar method8 ,so thought a minister of one of the ,two ,chambers1 and suggested the burning of certain tapestries of the royal collection in order that the gold and silver used in their weaving might be converted into metal4 ,sixty pieces1 the most superb specimens of a king's collection1 were transported to the court of ,la ,monnaie1 and there burned to the last thread the wondrous work of hundreds of talented artists and artisans4 ,the very smoke must have rolled out in pictures4 ,the money gained was considerable1 #fj1jjj livres1 showing how richly endowed with metal threads were these sumptuous hangings4 ,the commission sitting by1 judicial1 dispassionate1 presided with cold dignity over the sacrifice1 and pronounced it good4 ,a hundred workers only remained at the ,gobelins which had once been a happy hive of more than eight times that number1 and these were constrained to follow orders most objectionable and restrictive4 ,models to copy were chosen by a jury of art1 and such were its prejudices that but little of interest remained4 ,ancient religious suites1 and royal ones were disapproved4 ,new orders consisted of portraits4 ,but if we thought it a prostitution of the art to weave portraits of ,louis ,,xv in royal costume1 or ,marie ,antoinette in the loveliness of her queenly fripperies1 what can be said of the low estate of a factory which must give out a portrait of ,marat or ,lepelletier1 even though the great ,david painted the design to be copied4 ,the hundred men at the ,gobelins must have worked but sadly and desultorily over such scant and distasteful commissioning4 ,there were works upon the looms when the ,commission began inspecting the works of art to see if they were proper stuff for the newly-made ,republic to nurse upon4 ,in ,september1 #agid1 they found and condemned twelve large pieces on the looms unfinished1 and on which work was immediately suspended4 ,of three hundred and twenty-one models examined1 which were the property of the factory1 one hundred and twenty were rejected4 ,in fact1 only twenty were designated as truly fit for production1 not falling under the epithets anti-republican1 fanatic or insufficient4 ,the latter description was applied to all those exquisite fantasies of art that make the periods ,louis ,,xv and ,louis ,,xvi a source of transcendent delight to the lover of dainty intellectual design1 and include particularly the work of ,boucher4 ,the mental and moral workings of the commission on art may be tested by quoting from their own findings on the ,siege of ,calais1 a hanging by ,berthelemy1 depicting an event of the ,fourteenth ,century4 ,this is what the temper of the times induced the ,commission--among whom were artists too--to say3 ,subject regarded as contrary to republican ideas2 the pardon accorded to the people of ,calais was given by a tyrant through the tears and supplications of the queen and child of a despot4 ,rejected4 ,in consequence the tapestry will be arrested in its execution4 ,the models allowed in this benumbing period were those of hunting scenes1 and antique groups such as the ,muses1 or scenes from the life of ,achilles4 ,a vicious system of pay was added to the vicious system of art restriction4 ,and so fell the ,gobelins1 to revive in such small manner as was accorded it in the ,nineteenth ,century4 ,its great work was done4 ,it had lifted up an art which through inflation or barrenness ,brussels had let train on the ground like a fallen flag1 and it had given to ,france the glory of acquiring the highest period of perfection4 ,to ,france came the inspiration of gathering the industry under the paternal care of the government1 of relieving it from the exigencies of private enterprise which must of necessity fluctuate1 of keeping the art in dignified prosperity1 and of devoting to its uses the highest talent of both art and industry4 ,the ,revolution and the ,directory both hesitated to kill an institution that had brought such glory to ,france1 that had placed her above all the world in tapestry producing4 ,but what deliberate intent did not accomplish1 came near being a fact through scant rations4 ,operators at the ,gobelins were irregularly paid1 and the public purse found onerous the burden of support4 ,but with the coming of ,napoleon the personal note was struck again4 ,a man was at the head1 a man whose ambition invaded even the field of decoration4 ,the ,emperor would not be in the least degree inferior in splendour to the most magnificent of the hereditary kings of ,france4 ,the ,gobelins had been their glory1 it should add to his4 ,louis ,david was the painter of the court1 he whose head was ever turned over his shoulder toward ancient ,greece and ,rome1 who not only preferred that source of inspiration1 but who realised the flattery implied to the ,emperor by using the designs of the countries he had conquered4 ,it was a graceful reminder of the trophies of war4 ,so ,david not only painted ,josephine as a lady of ,pompeii elongated on a ,greek lounge1 but he set the classic style for the ,gobelins factory when ,napoleon gave to the looms his imperial patronage4 ,it was ,david who had found favour with ,revolutionary ,france by his untiring efforts to produce a style differing fundamentally from the style of kings1 when kings and their ways were unpopular4 ,technical exactness1 with classic motives1 characterises his decorative work for the ,gobelins4 ,the ,emperor was hot for throne-room fittings that spoke only of himself and of the empire he had built4 ,david made the designs1 beautiful1 chaste1 as his invention ever was1 and dotted them with the inevitable bees and eagles4 ,percier1 the artist1 helped with the painting1 but the throne itself was ,david's and shows his talent in the floating ,victory of the back and the conventionalised wreaths of the seat4 ,the whole set1 important enough to mention1 embraced eight arm chairs and six smaller ones1 besides two dozen classic seats of a kingly pattern1 and screens for fire and draughts1 all with a red background on which was woven in gold the pattern of wreaths and branches of laurel and oak4 ,the ,emperor made the ,gobelins his especial care4 ,he committed it to the discretion of no one1 but was himself the director1 and allowed no loom to set up its patterns unsanctioned by his order4 ,even his campaigns left this order operative4 ,is it to his credit as a genius1 or his discredit as a tyrant1 that the chiefs of the ,gobelins had to follow him almost into battle to get permission to weave a new hanging8 ,portraits were woven--but let us not dwell on that4 ,that portraits were woven at the ,gobelins 7portraits as such1 not the resemblance of one figure out of a mass to some great personage7 brings ever a sigh of regret4 ,it is like the evidence of senility in some grand statesman who has outlived his vigour4 ,it is like the portrait of your friend done in butter1 or the ,white ,house at ,washington done in a paste of destroyed banknotes4 ,in other words1 there is no excuse for it while paint and canvas exist4 ,napoleon's own portrait was made in full length twice1 and in bust ten times4 ,the ,empress was pictured at full length and in bust1 and the young ,king of ,rome came in for one portrait4 ,the summit of bad art seemed reached when it was proposed to copy in wool a painting of portrait busts1 carved in marble4 ,this work was happily unfinished when the empire gave place to the next form of government4 ,it is unthinkable that ,napoleon would not want his reign glorified in manner like to that of hereditary kings with pictured episodes1 the conquests of his life1 dramatic1 superb4 ,david the court painter1 supplied his canvas ,napoleon ,crossing the ,alps1 and others followed4 ,copying paintings was the order at the ,gobelins1 remember1 and that kind of work was done with infinite skill4 ,numbers of grand scenes were planned1 some set up on the looms1 but the great part were not done at all4 ,napoleon's triumph was full but brief2 the years of his reign were few4 ,he interrupted work on large hangings by his impatience to have the throne-room furniture ready for the reception of ,europe's kings and ambassadors4 ,and when the time came that another man received in that room1 the big series of hangings which were to picture his reign1 even as the ,life of the ,king pictured that of ,louis ,,xiv1 were scarcely begun4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,beauvais ,another name to conjure with1 after ,gobelins is ,beauvais4 ,in general it means to us squares of beautiful foliage1--foliage graceful1 acceptably coloured1 and of a pre-,raphaelite neatness4 ,but it is not limited to that class of work1 nor yet to the chair-coverings for which the factory of ,beauvais is so justly celebrated4 ,this factory has woven even the magnificent series of ,raphael1 the designs without which the ,sistine ,chapel was considered incomplete4 ,but this is anticipating1 and an inquiry into how these things came about is a pleasure too great to miss4 ,the factory at ,beauvais was founded by ,colbert1 under ,louis ,,xiv1 in #affd4 ,in that respect it resembles the ,gobelins factory1 but there existed an enormous difference which had to do with the entire fate of the enterprise4 ,the ,gobelins was founded for the king2 ,beauvais was founded for commerce4 ,the ,gobelins was royally conceived as a source of supply for palaces and chateaux of royalty and royalty's friends4 ,beauvais was intended to supply with tapestry any persons who cared to buy them1 to the end that profit 7if profit there were7 should be to the good of the country4 ,so the factory was founded at ,beauvais as being convenient to ,paris1 although it was not known as a place where the industry had flourished hitherto1 notwithstanding the old tapestries still in the cathedral which are accorded a local origin in the first half of the ,sixteenth ,century4 ,and the king granted it letters patent1 and large sums of money to start the enterprise1 which had to be given a building1 and men to manage it and to work therein1 and materials to work with1 in fact1 the duplicate in less degree of the appropriations for the ,gobelins1 except that the furniture department was omitted4 ,the idea was practically the same as that in the mind of the paternal ,henri ,,iv when he united the scattered factories with royal interest and patronage1 but with always the large end in view of benefiting his people financially1 as well as in the province of art4 ,with our modern republican views we can criticise the disinterestedness of a monarch who maintains a factory at enormous public expense exclusively for the indulgence of kings4 ,and yet1 it seems impossible to make both an artistic and commercial success of a tapestry factory--at least this is the conclusion to which one is forced in a study of the ,beauvais factory4 ,louis ,hinart was the man appointed to construct the buildings and to stock them1 and the royal appropriation therefor1 was #fj1jjj livres4 ,he was to engage a hundred workers for the first year1 more to be added2 and special prizes were temptingly offered for workmen coming from other countries1 and to the contractor for each tapestry sold for exportation4 ,illustration3 ,,henri ,,iv ,,before ,,paris ,beauvais ,tapestry1 ,seventeenth ,century4 ,design by ,vincent ,illustration3 ,,henri ,,iv ,,and ,,gabrielle ,d',,estrees ,design by ,vincent ,thus was trade to be encouraged1 and the venture put on its feet commercially4 ,but alas1 the factory was not a success4 ,tapestries were woven1 hundreds of them1 and they delight us now wherever we can find them1 whether low warp or high1 whether large pieces with figures or smaller pieces almost entirely verdure of an entrancing kind4 ,but the orders for large hangings1 the heavy patronage from outside ,france1 was of the imagination only1 and the verdures for home consumption did not meet the expenses of the factory4 ,after twenty years of struggle1 ,hinart was completely ruined and ceded the direction of the factory to a ,fleming of ,tournai1 ,philip ,behagle4 ,as most of the workers were ,flemish1 this was probably not disagreeable to them4 ,behagle1 more energetic than ,hinart1 with a gift for initiative1 set the high-warp looms to work with extraordinary activity4 ,as though he would rival the great ,gobelins itself1 he reproduced the most ambitious of pieces1 the ,raphael series1 ,acts of the ,apostles1 and a long list of ponderous groups wherein oversized gods disport themselves in a heavy setting of architecture and voluminous draperies4 ,he also produced some contemporary battle scenes which are now in the royal collection of ,sweden4 ,not content with copying1 ,behagle set up a school of design in the factory1 realising that the base of all decorative art was design4 ,le ,pape was the artist set over it4 ,from this grew many of the lovely smaller patterns which have made the factory famous4 ,its garlands have ever been inspired1 and its work on borders is of exquisite conception and execution4 ,it is considered a great fact in the history of the factory that the king paid it a visit in #afhf2 that he paraded and rested his important person under the shade of the living verdure in its garden4 ,but it seems more to the point that ,behagle made for it a success both artistic and commercial1 and this continued as long as he had breath4 ,also was it a feather in his cap that at the time when the ,gobelins factory was sighing and dying for lack of funds1 the provincial factory of ,beauvais not only remained prosperous1 but opened its doors to many of the starving operatives from the ,gobelins ateliers1 thus saving them from the horrid fate of joining the ,dragonades1 as some of their fellows had done4 ,but the followers of the able ,behagle had not his capability4 ,after his twenty years of prosperity the factory languished under the direction of his widow and sons1 and that of the brothers ,filleul1 and ,micou1 up to the time when the ,regent ,philip was fumbling the reigns of government1 and when everything but scepticism and ,les ,precieuses was sinking into feeble disintegration4 ,the factory became a financial failure from which the regent had not power to lift it4 ,again we see the name of the son of ,madame de ,montespan1 the ,duke d',antin1 who was at this time director of buildings for the crown and in this capacity had the power of choosing the directors of both the ,gobelins and ,beauvais4 ,the place of director at ,beauvais was empty2 d',antin must have the credit of filling it wisely with the painter ,jean-,baptiste ,oudry4 ,he was a man endowed with the sort of energy we are apt to consider modern and ,american4 ,he already occupied a high place in the ,gobelins1 and retained it1 too1 while he lifted ,beauvais from the ,slough of ,despond1 and carried it to its most brilliant flowering4 ,illustration3 ,,beauvais ,,tapestry4 ,,eighteenth ,,century ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york ,illustration3 ,,beauvais ,,tapestry4 ,,time ,,of ,,louis ,,xvi ,collection of ,wm4 ,baumgarten1 ,esq41 ,new ,york ,it is only as the history of a factory touches us that we are interested in its changes4 ,the result of ,oudry's direction is one that we see so frequently in a small way that it is agreeable to recognise its cause4 ,oudry was pre-eminently a painter of animals4 ,add to this the tendency to draw cartoons in suites and the demand for furniture coverings1 and at once we have the raison d'etre of the design seen over and over again nowadays on old tapestried chairs1 the designs picturing the ,fables of ,la ,fontaine4 ,these were the especial work of ,oudry who composed them1 who put into them his best work as animal painter1 and who set them on the looms of ,beauvais many times4 ,they had a success immediate4 ,they became the fashion of the day1 and the pride of the factory4 ,if the artist had drawn with inspiration1 the weavers copied with a fidelity little short of talent4 ,so it is not surprising that a set of sofa and chairs on which these tapestries are displayed brings now an average of a thousand dollars a piece1 even though the furniture frames are not excessively rich4 ,beauvais set the fashion for this suite1 but as success has imitators who hope for success1 many factories both in and out of ,france copied this series4 ,how shall we know the true from the false8 ,by that sixth sense that has its origin in a taste at once instinctive and cultivated4 ,oudry drew hangings for the small panelled spaces of the walls1 to accompany this set of ,fables4 ,he also painted scenes from ,moliere's comedies1 which at least show him master of the human figure as well as of the lines of animals4 ,we are now1 it must be remembered1 in the time of ,louis ,,xv1 the time of beautiful gaiety and light sarcasm1 of epigramme1 and miniature1 and of all that declared itself multum in parvo4 ,therefore it was that even wall-hangings were reduced in size and polished1 so to speak1 to a perfection most admirable4 ,paintings were copied1 actually copied1 on the looms1 but however much the fact may be deplored that tapestry had wandered far from its original days of grand simplicity1 it were unjust not to recognise the exquisite perfection of the manner in vogue in the middle of the ,eighteenth ,century1 and of the perfection of the craftsman4 ,the pieces of ,beauvais that are accessible to us are indeed charming to live with1 especially the verdures of ,oudry on which he left the trace of his talent1 never omitting the characteristic fox or dog1 or ducks1 or pheasants that give vital interest to a peep into the enchanted woodland4 ,at the same time the factory of ,aubusson1 and looms in ,flanders1 were throwing upon the market a quantity of verdures1 of which the amateur must beware4 ,oudry verdures or outdoor scenes are but few in model1 and beautifully woven4 ,illustration3 ,,beauvais ,,tapestry4 ,,time ,,of ,,louis ,,xiv ,in the prosperity of ,beauvais1 ambition carried ,oudry into a gay rivalry with the ,gobelins4 ,charles ,coypel had gained fame by a set of hangings in which scenes were taken from ,don ,quixote4 ,oudry asked himself why he should not rival them at ,beauvais4 ,the result was a similar series1 but composed by ,charles ,natoire1 the artist who had drawn a set of ,antony and ,cleopatra for the ,gobelins4 ,the same idea extended to the furniture coverings which ran to this design as well as to the ,fables4 ,thus originated a set familiar to those of us nowadays who covet and who buy the rare old bits that the niggard hand of the past accords to the seeker after the ancient4 ,exquisite indeed are the hangings by the great interpreter of the spirit of his time1 ,francois ,boucher4 ,his designs broke from the limit of the ,gobelins1 and were woven at ,beauvais with the care and skill required for proper interpretation of his land of mythology4 ,such flushed skies of light1 such clean1 soft trees waving against them and such human elegance and beauty grouped beneath1 have seldom been reproduced in tapestry1 and almost make one wonder if1 after all1 the weavers of the ,eighteenth ,century were not right in copying a finished painting rather than in interpreting a decorative cartoon4 ,but such thoughts border on heresy and schism2 away with them4 ,casanova1 ,leprince1 and a host of others are tacked onto the list of artists who painted models4 ,we can no longer call them cartoons1 so changed is the mode for ,beauvais4 ,but ,oudry and ,boucher are pre-eminent4 ,to the former1 who was director as well as artist1 is attributed the fame of the factory and the resulting commercial success4 ,the factory had a house for selling its wares under the very nose of the ,gobelins2 had another in the enemy's country1 ,leipzig4 ,and kings were the patrons of these1 as we know through the royal collections in ,italy1 and ,stockholm1 where the ,king of ,sweden was an important collector4 ,it was in #agee that ,beauvais found itself without the support of its leaders4 ,both ,oudry and his partner in business matters1 ,besnier1 had died4 ,and we are well on toward the time when kingly support was a feeble and uncertain quantity4 ,the factory lacked the inspiration and patronage to continue its importance4 ,in a few years more fell the blight of the ,revolution4 ,the factory was closed4 ,it re-opened again under new conditions1 but its brilliant period was past4 ,will the conditions recur that can again elevate to its former state of perfection this factory that has given such keen delight1 whose ancient works are so prized by the amateur8 ,it has given us thrilling examples of the highly developed taste of tapestry weaving of the ,eighteenth ,century1 it has left us lovable designs in miniature4 ,we repulse the thought that these things are all of the past4 ,the factory still lives4 ,will not the ,twentieth ,century see a restoration of its former prestige8 ,if it were only for the reproduction of the sets of furniture of the style known as ,louis ,,xvi1 the ,beauvais loom would have sufficient reason for existing at the present day4 ,scenes from ,don ,quixote1 however1 and the pictured fables of ,la ,fontaine which we see on old chairs1 seem to need age to ripen them4 ,these sets1 when made new1 shown in all the freshness and unsoiled colour1 and unworn wool1 and unfaded silk do not give pleasure4 ,illustration3 ,,beauvais ,,tapestry ,illustration3 ,,chair ,,covering ,beauvais ,tapestry4 ,first ,empire ,but the familiar garlands and scrolls adapted from the ,greek1 that were woven for the court of ,marie ,antoinette1 these are ever old and ever new1 like all things vital4 ,on a background of solid colour1 pale and tawny1 is curved the foliated scroll to reach the length of a sofa1 and with this is associated garlands or sprays of flowers that any flower-lover would worship4 ,nothing more graceful nor more tasteful could be conceived1 and by such work is the ,beauvais factory best known1 and on such lines might it well continue4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,aubusson ,perhaps because of certain old and elegant carpets lying under-foot in the glow and shadows of old drawing-rooms that we love1 the name of ,aubusson is one of interesting meaning4 ,and yet history of tapestry weaving at ,aubusson lacks the importance that gilds the ,gobelins and ,beauvais4 ,it just escaped that sine qua non1 the dower of a king's favour4 ,but let us be chronological1 and not anticipate4 ,if antiquity is the thing1 ,aubusson claims it4 ,there is in the town this interesting tradition that when the invincible ,charles ,martel beat the enemies of ,christianity and hammered out the word peace with his sword-blade1 a lot of the subdued ,saracens from ,spain remained in the neighbourhood4 ,it was at ,poitiers in #gcb that the final blow was given to show the hordes of ,north ,africa that while a part of ,spain might be theirs1 they must stop below the ,pyrenees4 ,when swords are put by1 the empty hand turns to its accustomed crafts of peace4 ,poitiers is a weary journey from ,africa if the land ways are hostile1 and all to be traversed afoot4 ,rather than return1 the conquered ,saracens stayed1 so runs the legend of ,aubusson1 and quite naturally fell into their home-craft of weaving4 ,they had a pretty gift indeed to bestow1 for at that time1 as in ages before1 the world's best fabrics came from the luxurious ,east4 ,and so the ,saracens1 defeated at ,poitiers by ,charles ,martel1 wandered to nearby ,aubusson1 wove their cloths and gave the town the chance to set its earliest looms at a date far back in the past4 ,the centuries went on1 however1 without much left in the way of history-fabric or woven fabric until we approach the time when tapestry-history begins all over ,france1 like sparse flowers glowing here and there in the early spring wood4 ,when the ,great ,louis1 with ,colbert at his sumptuous side1 was by way of patronising magnificently those arts which contributed to his own splendour1 he set his all-seeing eye upon ,aubusson1 and thought to make it a royal factory4 ,he was far from establishing it--that was more than accomplished already1 not so much by the legendary ,saracens as by the busy populace who had as early as #afcg as many as two thousand workers4 ,going back a little farther we find a record of four tapestries woven there for ,rheims4 ,it was1 perhaps1 this very prosperity1 this ability to stand alone that made ,louis and ,colbert think it worth while to patronise the works at ,aubusson4 ,but it must be said that at this time 7#affd7 the factory was deteriorating4 ,tapestry works are as sensitive as the veriest exotic1 and without the proper conditions fail and fade4 ,the wrong matter here was primarily the cartoons1 which were of the poorest4 ,no artist controlled them1 and the workers strayed far from the copy set long before4 ,added to that1 the wool was of coarse1 harsh quality and the dyeing was badly done4 ,all three faults remediable1 thought the two chief forces in the kingdom4 ,so ,louis ,,xiv announced to the sixteen hundred weavers of ,aubusson that he would give their works the conspicuous privilege of taking on the name of the ,royal ,manufactory at ,aubusson4 ,and1 moreover1 he declared his wish to send them an artist to draw worthily1 and a master of the important craft of dyeing fast and lovely colours4 ,colbert drew up a series of articles and stipulations1 long papers of rules and restrictions which were considered a necessary part of fine tapestry weaving4 ,these papers are tiresome to read--the constitution of many a nation or a state is far less verbose4 ,they give the impression that the craft of tapestry weaving is beset with every sort of small deceit1 so protection must be the arrangement between master and worker1 and between the factory and the great outside world1 lying in wait to tear with avaricious claws any fabric1 woven or written1 that this document leaves unprotected4 ,you get1 too1 the impression that weavers took themselves a little too seriously4 ,there must have been other arts and crafts in the world than theirs1 but if so these men of long documents ignored it4 ,aubusson1 then1 took heart at the encouragement of the king and his prime minister1 enjoyed their fine new title to flaunt before the world which lacked it1 pored over their new ,articles of ,faith1 and awaited the new artist and the new alchemist of colours4 ,but ,louis ,,xiv was a busy man1 and ,paris presented enough activity to consume all his hours but the scant group he allowed himself for sleep4 ,so ,aubusson was forgot4 ,wars and pleasures both ravaged the royal purse1 and no money was left for indulgences to a tapestry factory lying leagues distant from ,paris and the satisfying ,gobelins4 ,then came the agitation of religious conflict during which ,louis ,,xiv was persuaded1 coerced1 nagged into the condition of mind which made him put pen to the ,revocation of the ,edict of ,nantes1 the document that is ever playing about the fortunes of tapestry weaving4 ,this was in #afhe4 ,aubusson had struggled along on hope for twenty years1 under its epithet ,royal1 but now it had to lose its best workers to the number of two hundred4 ,the ,protestants had ever been among the best workers in ,louis' kingdom1 and by his prejudice he lost them4 ,germany received some of the fugitives1 notably1 ,pierre ,mercier4 ,near ,aubusson were ,felletin and ,bellegarde1 the three towns forming the little group of factories of ,la ,marche4 ,when the king's act brought disaster to ,aubusson1 her two neighbours suffered equally4 ,there was also another reason for a sagging of prosperity4 ,beauvais was rapidly gaining in size and importance under the patronage of the king and the wise rule of its administrators4 ,beauvais with her high- and low-warp looms1 her artists from ,paris and her privilege to sell in the open market1 lured from ,aubusson the patronage that might have kept her strong4 ,thus things went on to the end of the ,seventeenth ,century and the first quarter of the ,eighteenth4 ,then in #agca came deliverers in the persons of the painters1 ,jean ,joseph du ,mons and ,pierre de ,montezert1 and an able dyer who aided them4 ,prosperity began anew4 ,not the prosperity of the first half of the ,seventeenth ,century1 which was its best period1 but a strong1 healthy productiveness which has lasted ever since4 ,two articles of faith it adheres to--that the looms shall be invariably low1 and that the threads of the warp shall be of wool and wool only4 ,large quantities of strong-colour verdures from ,la ,marche and notably from ,aubusson are offered to the buyer throughout ,france4 ,they are as easily adapted to the wood panels of a modern dining-room as is stuff by the yard1 the pattern being merely a mass of trees divisible almost anywhere4 ,the colour scheme is often worked out in blues instead of greens2 a narrow border is on undisturbed pieces1 and the reverse of the tapestry is as full of loose threads as the back of a cashmere rug4 ,for the most part these fragments are the work of the ,eighteenth ,century4 ,older ones1 with warmer colours introduced bring much higher prices4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,savonnerie ,those who hold by the letter1 leave out the velvety product of ,la ,savonnerie from the aristocratic society of hangings woven in the classic stitch of the ,gobelins4 ,they have reason4 ,yet1 because the weave is one we often see in galleries1 also on furniture both old and new1 it is as well not to ignore its productions in lofty silence4 ,besides1 it is rather interesting1 this little branch of an exotic industry that tried to run along beside the greater and more artistic4 ,it never has tried to be much higher than a man's feet1 has been content for the most part to soften and brighten floors that before its coming were left in the cold bareness of tile or parquet4 ,it crept up to the backs and seats of chairs1 and into panelled screens a little later on1 but never has it had much vogue on the walls4 ,when we go back to its beginnings we come flat against the ,far ,east1 as is usual4 ,the history of the fabric which is woven with a pile like that of heavy wool velvet1 and which is called ,savonnerie1 runs parallel to the long story of tapestry proper1 but to make its scant details one short concrete chronicle it is best to put them all together4 ,from the ,east1 then1 came the idea of weaving in that style of which only the people of the ,east were masters4 ,oriental rugs as such were not attempted in either colour or design1 but one of the rug stitches was copied4 ,we have to run back to the time of ,henri ,,iv1 a pleasing time to turn to with its demonstration of how much a powerful king loved the welfare of his people4 ,when he interested himself in tapestry1 one of the three important existing factories was stationed in the ,louvre4 ,this was primarily for the hangings properly called tapestry1 but in the same place were looms for the production of work after the fashion of ,turkey4 ,sometimes it was called work of long wool 7longue laine7 and sometimes also a la facon de ,perse1 ou du ,levant1 as well as of the fashion of ,turkey1--all names giving credit to the ,east from whence the stitch came by means of crusades1 invasions and other storied movements of the people of a dim past4 ,how long ago this stitch came1 is as uncertain as most things in the ,middle ,ages4 ,we know how persistently the cultivated venturesome ,east overflowed ,eastern ,europe1 and how religious ,europe thrust itself into the ,east1 and on these broad bases we plant our imaginings4 ,away back in ,burgundian times there are traces of the use of this velvet stitch4 ,tapestries of ,germany also woven in the ,fifteenth ,century1 use this stitch to heighten the effect of details4 ,but the formation of an actual industry properly set down in history and dignified by the name of its directors1 comes in the very first years of the ,seventeenth ,century when ,henri ,,iv of ,france was living up to his high ideals4 ,pierre ,dupont is the name to remember in this connexion4 ,he is styled the inventor of the velvet pile in tapestry1 but it were better to call him the adaptor4 ,the name of ,savonnerie came from the building in which the first looms were set up1 an old soap factory1 and thus the velvet pile bears the misnomer of the ,savonnerie4 ,pierre ,dupont 7whose book ,la ,stromaturgie might be consulted by the book-lover7 was one of the enthusiasts included by ,henri ,,iv along with the best high-and low-warp masters of ,france at that time4 ,being placed under royal patronage1 the ,savonnerie style of weaving acquired a dignity which it has ever had trouble in retaining for the simple reason that the legitimate place for its products seems to be the floor4 ,the ,gobelins factory finally absorbed the ,savonnerie1 but that was after it had been established in the ,louvre4 ,pierre ,dupont who was director of tapestry works under ,henri ,,iv even goes so far as to vaunt the works of ,french production over those of ,la ,turquie4 ,the taste of the day was doubtless far better pleased with the ,french colour and drawing than with the designs of the ,east4 ,at any rate1 this pretty wool velvet found such favour with kings that even ,louis ,,xiv encouraged its continuance1 gathering it under the roof of the all-embracing ,gobelins4 ,a large royal order embraced ninety-two pieces1 intended to cover the ,grand ,galerie of the ,louvre4 ,many of these pieces are preserved to-day and are conserved by the ,state4 ,if ,savonnerie has never produced much that is noteworthy in the line of art1 at least it has given us many pretty bits of an endearing softness1 bits which cover a chair or panel a screen1 to the delight of both eye and touch4 ,the softness of the weave makes it especially appropriate to furniture of the age of luxurious interiors which is represented by the styles of ,louis ,,xv and ,louis ,,xvi4 ,portraits in this style of weave were executed at a time when portraits were considered improved by translation into wool1 but except as curiosities they are scarcely successful4 ,an example hangs in the ,new ,york ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art4 7,plate facing page #afb47 ,in the ,gobelins factory of to-day are four looms for the manufacture of ,savonnerie4 ,illustration3 ,,savonnerie4 ,,portrait ,,supposably ,,of ,,louis ,,xv ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york ,illustration3 ,,vulcan ,,and ,,venus ,,series4 ,,mortlake ,collection of ,philip ,hiss1 ,esq41 ,new ,york ,,chapter ,,xvii ,,mortlake #afai-agjc ,the three great epochs of tapestry weaving1 with their three localities which are roughly classed as ,arras in the ,fifteenth ,century1 ,brussels in the ,sixteenth ,century1 and ,paris in the ,seventeenth1 had1 as a matter of course1 many tributary looms4 ,it is not supposable that a craft so simple1 when it is limited to unambitious productions1 should not be followed by hundreds of modest people whose highest wish was to earn a living by providing the market with what was then considered as much a necessity as chairs and tables4 ,to take a little retrospective journey through ,europe and linger among these obscurer weavers would be delectable pastime for the leisurely1 and for the enthusiast4 ,but we are all more or less in a hurry1 and incline toward a courier who will point out the important spots without having to hunt for them4 ,artois had not only ,arras2 ,flanders had not only ,brussels2 ,france had not only the ,state ateliers of ,paris and ,beauvais2 but all these countries had smaller centres of production4 ,the tapestries from some of these we are able to identify1 even to weave a little history about them4 ,these products are recognisable through much study of marks and details and much digging in learned foreign books1 where careful records are kept--a congenial business for the antiquary4 ,but even though we may neglect in the main the lesser factories1 there is one great development which must have full notice4 ,it is the important ,english venture known as ,mortlake4 ,sully1 standing at the elbow of ,henri ,,iv of ,france1 called ,james ,i of ,england the wisest fool in ,europe4 ,a part of his wisdom was the encouraging in his own kingdom the royal craft of tapestry-making4 ,to this end he followed the example set by that grand ,henri of ,navarre1 and gave the crown's aid to establish and maintain works for tapestry production4 ,the elegance of the ,stuart came to the front1 desiring gratification2 but craftiness had a hand in the matter1 too4 ,after the introduction of ,italian luxury into ,england by ,henry ,,viii1 and the continuance of art's revival through the brilliant period of ,elizabeth1 it is not supposable that no tapestry looms existed throughout the length and breadth of the land at the time that ,james came down from ,scotland4 ,they were there2 documents prove it4 ,but they were not of such condition as pleased the fastidious son of ,marie ,stuart1 who needs must import his weavers and his artists4 ,and therein was shown his craftiness1 for he had coaxed secretly from ,flanders fifty expert weavers before the canny ,dutch knew their talented material was thus being filched away4 ,every weaver was bound to secrecy1 lest the ,low ,countries1 knowing the value of her clever workmen1 put a ban upon their going before the ,english king had his full quota for the new venture4 ,wandering about old ,london1 one can identify now the place where the king's factory had habitat4 ,the buildings stood where now we find ,queen's ,court ,passage1 and near by1 at ,victoria ,terrace1 was the house set aside for the limners or artists who drew and painted for the works4 ,to copy ,henri ,,iv in his success was dominant in the mind of ,james ,i4 ,to the able ,sir ,francis ,crane he gave the place of director of the works1 and made with him a contract similar to that made with ,francois de la ,planche and ,marc ,comans in ,paris by their king4 ,if to ,james ,i is owed the initial establishment1 to ,crane is owed all else at that time4 ,it was in #afai that the works were founded and ,sir ,francis took charge4 ,he was a gentleman born1 was much seen at ,court1 had ambitions of his own1 too1 and was cultivated in many ways of mind and taste4 ,besides all this1 he had a head for business and an enthusiasm rampant1 which could meet any discouragement--and needed this faculty later1 too4 ,the king then gave him the management of the venture1 started him with the royal favour1 which was as good as a fortune1 with a building for the looms1 with imported workers who knew the tricks of the trade1 and with a pretty sum of money to boot4 ,prudence was born with the enterprise2 so the men from the ,low ,countries were advised to become naturalised to make them more likely to stay1 and to bring other workers over1 ,walloons1 malcontents1 religious fugitives1 or whatever1 so long as the hands were skilful4 ,down in ,kent1 they say those cottages were built for weavers1--those lovable nests of big timbers1 curved gables and small leaded panes which we are so keen to restore and live in these days4 ,to swell the number of workers1 and to have an eye for the future1 there must be apprentices4 ,the king looked about among the city's hospitals and saw many goodly boys living at crown expense1 with no specified occupation during their adolescence4 ,these he put as apprentices1 for a term of seven years1 to work under the fifty ,flemish leaders4 ,they were happy if they fell under the care of ,philip de ,maecht1 he of ,flanders1 who had wandered down to ,paris and served under ,de la ,planche and ,comans1 and now had been enticed to the new ,mortlake4 ,he has left his visible mark on tapestries of his production--his monogram1 ,p4,d4,m4 7,plate facing page #gj47 ,a designer for the factory1 one who lived there1 was an inseparable part of it4 ,and thus it came that ,francis ,clein 7or ,cleyn7 was permanently established4 ,he came from ,denmark1 but had taken an enlightening journey to ,italy1 and had a fine equipment for the work1 which he carried on until #afeh4 ,his name is on several tapestries now existing4 ,even kings tire of their fulfilled wishes4 ,james wanted royal tapestry works1 yet1 when they were an established fact1 he wearied of the drafts on his purse for their support4 ,it was the old story of unfulfilled obligations1 of a royal purse plucked at by too many vital interests to spend freely on art4 ,and ,sir ,francis ,crane bore the brunt of the troubles4 ,contracts with the king counted but lightly in face of his enthusiasm4 ,he continued the work1 paid his men the best he could1 and let the king's debt to him stand unsued4 ,in a few years--a very few1 as it was then but #afbc--;he was obliged to petition the king4 ,his private fortune was gone by the board1 the workmen were clamouring for wages past due1 and the factory trembled4 ,then it was the ,prince of ,wales showed the value of his interest in the tapestries that were demonstrating the artistic enterprise of ,england4 ,the ,italian taste was the ultimate note in ,england as well as elsewhere--the ,italy of the ,renaissance2 and from ,italy the prince had ordered paintings and drawings4 ,what was more to the purpose at this hour of leanness1 he ordered paid by the crown a bill of seven hundred pounds1 which covered their expense4 ,the king1 unwillingly1--for needs pressed on all sides--paid also ,sir ,francis ,crane in part for moneys he had expended1 but left him struggling against the hard conditions of a ruined private purse and a thin royal one4 ,at this juncture1 #afbe1 ,james ,i died1 and his son reigned in his stead4 ,the ,prince of ,wales was now become that beribboned1 picturesque1 ,french-spirited monarch1 whose figure on ,whitehall eternally protests his tragic death4 ,as ,charles ,i1 he had the power to foster the elegant industry which now grew and flowered to a degree that brought satisfaction then1 and which yields a harvest of delight in our own times4 ,sir ,francis ,crane was at last to get the reward of enthusiasm and fidelity4 ,too much reward1 said the envious1 who tried in all ways1 fair and foul1 to drive him from what was now a lucrative and conspicuous post4 ,the money he had advanced the factory came back to him1 and more also4 ,ever a well-known figure at court1 he now even aspired to closer relations with royalty1 and built a magnificent country home1 which was large enough to accommodate a visiting court4 ,he even persuaded the king to visit the ,mortlake factory1 that the royal presence might enhance the value of art in the occult way known only to the subjects of kings4 ,debts from the crown were not always paid in clinking coin1 but often in grants of land1 and by these grants ,sir ,francis ,crane became rich4 ,but the prosperity of ,crane was not worth our recording were it not that it evidenced the prosperity of ,mortlake4 ,from the death of ,james ,i in #afbe for a period of ten years1 the factory flowered and fruited4 ,its productions were of the very finest that have ever been produced in any country4 ,the reasons for this superiority were evident4 ,first of all1 ,mortlake was the pet of the king2 next1 ,crane was an able and devoted minister of its affairs2 its artistic inspiration came from the home of the highest art--,italy--and its weavers were from that locality of sage and able weavers--,flanders4 ,add to this1 tapestries were the fashion4 ,every man of wealth and importance felt them a necessary chattel to his elegance4 ,and add to this1 too1 that ,mortlake had almost a clean field4 ,it was nearly without rival in fine tapestry-making at that time4 ,brussels had declined1 and the ,gobelins was not formed in its inspired combination4 ,illustration3 ,,vulcan ,,and ,,venus ,,series4 ,,mortlake ,collection of ,philip ,hiss1 ,esq41 ,new ,york ,illustration3 ,,vulcan ,,and ,,venus ,,series4 ,,mortlake ,collection of ,philip ,hiss1 ,esq41 ,new ,york ,besides this1 were not the materials for the industry found best within the confines of the kingdom8 ,what sheep in all the world produced such even1 lustrous wool as the muttons huddling or wandering on the undulating pres sales of ,kent2 and was not wool1 par excellence1 the ideal material for picture-weaving1 better than silk or glittering gold8 ,the hangings made then were superb4 ,thanks to destiny1 we have some left on which to lavish our enthusiasm4 ,the cartoons preferred came from ,italy's great dead masters4 ,first was ,raphael4 ,the ,mortlake would try its hand at nothing less than the great series made to finish and soften the decoration of the ,sistine ,chapel4 ,and so the ,acts of the ,apostles were woven1 and in such manner as was worthy of them4 ,they can be seen now in the ,garde ,meuble4 ,van ,dyck1 the great ,hollander1 made court painter to the king1 drew borders for them1 and was proud to do it1 too4 ,van ,dyck's other work here was a portrait of ,sir ,francis ,crane and one of himself4 ,rubens likewise associated his great decorative genius with the factory and gave to it his suite of six designs for the ,story of ,achilles4 ,cleyn1 the ,mortlake art-director1 furnished a ,history of ,hero and ,leander1 which found home among the marvellous tapestries of the ,king of ,sweden4 ,there were other classic subjects1 and the months as well1 but of especial interest to us is the ,story of ,vulcan4 ,several pieces of this series have been lent to the ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york1 by their owners1 ,mrs4 von ,zedlitz1 and ,philip ,hiss1 ,esq4 ,thus1 without going far from home1 thousands have been able to see these delightful examples of the highest period of ,england's tapestry production4 ,the series was woven for ,charles ,i when he was ,prince of ,wales1 from cartoons by ,francis ,cleyn1 and woven by the master1 ,philip de ,maecht4 ,the borders are especially interesting1 and carry the emblematic three feathers of the prince1 as well as his monogram1 in ,mrs4 von ,zedlitz's example1 ,the ,expulsion of ,vulcan4 7,coloured plate facing page #agj47 ,it was this same series of ,vulcan that was used as a text by ,crane's enemy to prove to the king1 in #afcj1 that ,crane was profiting unduly and dishonestly from the land grants given him in payment for arrears4 ,the plaintiff speaks of this set as being the foundation of all good tapestries in ,england4 ,we are fortunate in having pieces from it in ,america4 ,only by actual contact with the tapestry itself can the beauty of the colour and the work be known4 ,we well believe the superior quality of the ,english wool when it lies before us in smooth expanse of subtle colour4 ,and as for even weaving1 it is there unsurpassed4 ,every inch declares the talent and patience of the craftsman4 ,as for colour1 it is on a low scale that makes blues seem like remembrance of the sea1 and reds like faint flushings planned in warm contrast1 while over all is thrown a veil of delicate mist that may be of years1 or may have been done with intent1 but is there to give poetic value to the whole of the artist's scheme4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,expulsion ,,of ,,vulcan ,,from ,,olympus ,sir ,francis ,crane died in #afcf1 and ,captain ,richard ,crane succeeded him4 ,and then began the decline of a factory which should have lived to save us deep regret4 ,this second ,crane could not carry on the work1 and besought the king to relieve him by taking over the factory1 which was thenceforth known as ,king's ,works4 ,but civil wars came on in #afdb and other matters were more urgent than the production of works of art4 ,so evil days fell upon the weavers4 ,then came the black day when ,charles was beheaded4 ,the ,commonwealth1 to do it justice1 tried to keep alive the industry4 ,they put at its head a nobleman1 ,sir ,gilbert ,pickering1 and1 to inspire the workers1 brought a new model for design4 ,they went to ,hampton ,court and took from there ,the ,triumph of ,caesar1 by ,mantegna1 to serve as new models4 ,some hope1 too1 lay in the weavers of the hour1 clever ,hollanders taken prisoners in the war2 and all this while ,cleyn directed4 ,but there were too many circumstances in the way1 too many hard knocks of fate4 ,people were too poor to buy good tapestries1 and loose-woven1 cheaper ones were heavily imported--to the amount of #ejj1jjj yearly--from ,france and the ,low ,countries4 ,anti-,catholic feeling displayed hatred toward the able ,catholic weavers1 who were forced out of the country by proclamation4 ,the sad end of this story is that in #agjb a petition was placed before the king asking permission to discontinue the ,mortlake works4 ,it was granted in #agjc1 and thus ended the ,english royal venture in ,england4 ,,chapter ,,xviii ,,identifications ,identifying tapestries is like playing a game1 like the solving of a piquant problem1 like pursuing the elusive snark4 ,i know of no keener pleasure than that of standing before a tapestry for the first time and giving its name and history from one's own knowledge1 and not from a museum catalogue or a friend's recital4 ,the latter sources of information may be faulty1 but your own you can trust1 for by delightful association with tapestries and their literature you have become expert4 ,the catalogue is to be read1 the friend is to be heard1 in all humility1 because these supply points that one may not know2 but1 who shall not say that an intensely human gratification is experienced when the owner of a tapestry with the ,brussels mark tells you that it is a ,gobelins1 or one with the ,history of ,alexander tells you it is the only set of that series ever woven1 and you know better4 ,the first thing that strikes the eye and the intelligence is the drawing1 the general school to which it belongs4 ,there is matter for placing the piece in its right class4 ,it might be said to place it in its right century or quarter century1 but that tapestries were so often repeated in later times1 the cartoon having no copyright and therefore open to all countries in all centuries4 ,next1 then1 to fix it better1 comes a study of the border1 for therein lies many a secret of identity1 and borders were of the epoch in which the weaving was done1 even though the cartoon for the centre came from an earlier time4 ,last1 as a finishing touch1 come the marks in the galloon4 ,this is put last because so often they are absent1 and so often unknown1 the sign of some ancient weaver lost in the mists of years1 although a well-known mark so instantly identifies1 that study of other details is secondary4 ,but under these three generalising heads comes all the knowledge of the savant1 for the truth about tapestries is most elusive4 ,knowledge is to be gained only by a lover of the objects1 a lover willing to spend long hours in association with his love1 prowling among collections1 comparing1 handling1 studying designs1 discerning colours1 searching for details1 and indulging withal a nice feeling for textures1 a vision that feels them even without touch of the hand4 ,if the study of design has not given a keen scent for the vague quality which we call feeling1 the eye would better be trained still further1 for herein lies the secret of success in difficult places1 and not only that1 but if he have not this sense he is deprived of one of the most subtile thrills that the arts can excite4 ,but this sense is not a matter of untrained intuition4 ,it is the flower of erudition1 the flame from a full heart1 or whatever dainty thing you choose to call it4 ,it has its origin primarily in keen observation of the various important schools of design that have interested the world for centuries4 ,we unconsciously augment it even in following the side-path of history in this modest volume4 ,our studies here are but those of a summer morn or a winter eve1 yet they are in vain if they have not set up a measuring standard or two within the mind4 ,,gothic ,,drawing ,first1 and dearest to the lover of designs1 comes the ,gothic1 the style practised by those conscientious romantic children-in-art1 the ,primitives4 ,their characteristics in tapestry are much the same as in painting1 as in sculpture2 for1 weavers1 painters1 book-makers1 sculptors1 were all expressing the same matter1 all following the same fashion4 ,therefore1 to one's help comes any and every work of the primitive artists4 ,making allowance for the difference in medium1 the same religious feeling is seen in the ,burgundian set of ,the ,sacraments in the ,metropolitan ,museum of ,arts1 ,new ,york1 as is found in stone carving of the time which decorated churches and tombs4 ,the figures in the ,gothic tapestries show a dignified restraint1 a solemnity of pose1 recalling the deadly seriousness with which children play the game of grown-ups4 ,the artists of that day had to keep to their traditions2 to express without over-expression1 was their difficult task 7as it is ours71 but they had behind them the rigidity of the ,byzantine and ,early ,christian1 so that every free line1 every vigorous pose or energetic action1 was forging ahead into a new country1 a voyage of adventure for the daring artist4 ,quite another affair was this from modern restraint which consists in pruning down the voluptuous lines following the too high ,renaissance4 ,faces are serious1 but not animated4 ,dress reveals charming matter concerning stuffs and modes in that far time4 ,but apart from these characteristics is the one great feature of the arrangement of the figures1 almost without perspective4 ,and therein lies one immense superiority of the ancient designs of tapestries over the modern as pure decorative fabric4 ,men and women are placed with their accessories of furniture or architecture all in the foreground1 and each man has as many cubits to his stature as his neighbour1 not being dwarfed for perspective1 but only for modesty1 as in the case of the ,lady's companion in the ,unicorn series--but that series is of a later ,gothic time than the early works of ,arras4 ,a noticeable feature is that the centre of vision is placed high on the tapestry4 ,the eye must look to the top to find all the strength of the design4 ,the lower part is covered with the sweeping robes or finished figures of the folk who are playing their silent parts for the delight of the eye4 ,this covers well the space with large and simple motive4 ,no recourse is had to such artifice as distant lands seen in perspective1 nor angles of rooms1 but all is flat1 brought frankly into intimate association with the room that is lived in1 so that these people of other days seem really to enter into our very presence1 to thrust vitally their quaint selves into our company4 ,this feature of simple flatness is in so great contrast to later methods of drawing that one becomes keenly conscious of it1 and deeply satisfied with its beauty4 ,the purpose of decoration and of furnishing seems to be most adequately met when the attention is retained within the chamber and not led out of it by trick of background nor lure of perspective1 no matter how enticing are the distant landscapes or how noble the far palace of royalty4 ,thus the ,primitives struck a more intimately human note than the artists of later and more sophisticated times4 ,the more archaic the tapestry1 the simpler the motive1 is the rule4 ,the early weavers of ,arras and of ,france were telling stories as naturally as possible1 perhaps because the ways of their times were simple1 and brushed aside all filigree with a directness almost brutal2 but also1 perhaps1 because technique was not highly developed1 either in him who drew with a pencil or him who copied that drawing in threads of silk and wool and gold4 ,whatever the cause1 we can but rejoice at the result1 which1 alas1 is shown to us by but lamentably few remnants outside of museums4 ,these very archaic simple pieces are1 for the most part1 work of the latter part of the ,fourteenth ,century and the first part of the ,fifteenth1 and as the history of tapestry shows1 were almost invariably woven in ,france or in ,flanders4 ,at the end of the time mentioned1 designs1 while retaining much the same characteristics already described1 became more ambitious1 more complicated1 and introduced many scenes into one piece4 ,this is easily proved by a comparison of the illustration of ,the ,baillee des ,roses1 or ,the ,sacraments1 with ,the ,sack of ,jerusalem1 all in the ,metropolitan ,museum4 ,the idea in the earliest ,gothic cartoons--if the word may be allowed here1 was to make a single picture1 a unified group4 ,into the later cartoons came the fashion of multiplying these groups on one field1 so that a tapestry had many points of interest1 many scenes where tragedies or comedies were being enacted4 ,ingenious were the ways of the early artist to accomplish the separation between the various scenes1 which were sometimes divided merely by their own attitudes1 as folk dispose themselves in groups in a large drawing-room2 and sometimes were divided by natural obstructions1 like brooks and trees1 or by columns4 ,later yet1 all the antique eccentricities passed away1 and the laws of perspective and balance were fully developed in an art which has an unspeakable charm4 ,all the things that modern art has decreed as crude or childish has passed away1 and the sweet flower of the ,gothic perfection unfolded its exquisite beauty4 ,this ,gothic perfection was the ,golden ,age of tapestry4 ,,architectural ,,detail ,the use of architecture in the old ,gothic designs makes a pleasing necessity of fastening our attention upon it4 ,in the very oldest drawing the sole use is to separate one scene from another1 in the same hanging4 ,for this purpose slender columns are used4 ,it is intensely interesting to note that these are the same variety of column that meets us on every delightful prowl among old relics of ,north ,europe1 relics of the days when man's highest and holiest energy expressed itself at last in the cathedral4 ,those slender stems of the northern ,gothic are verily the stems of plants or of aspiring young trees1 strong when grouped1 dainty when alone1 and forming a refined division for the various scenes in a picture4 ,it must be confessed that in the medium of aged wool they sometimes totter with the effect of imminent fall1 but that they do not fall1 only inspires the illusion that they belong to the marvellous age of fairy-tale and fancy4 ,the careful observer takes a keen look at these columns as a clue to dates4 ,the shape of the shaft1 whether round or hectagonal1 the ornament on the capitals1 are indications4 ,it is not easy to know how long after a design is adopted its use continues1 but it is entirely a simple matter to know that a tapestry bearing a capital designed in #aejj could not have been made prior to that time4 ,the columns1 later on1 took on a different character4 ,they lifted slender shafts more ornamented4 ,it is as though the restless men of ,europe had come up from the ,south and had brought with them reminiscences of those tender models which shadowed the art of the ,saracens1 the art which flavoured so much the art of ,southern ,europe4 ,the columns of many a cloister in ,italy bear just such lines of ornament1 including the time when the brothers ,cosmati were illuminating the pattern with their rich mosaic4 ,then1 later still1 the columns burst into the exquisite bloom of the early ,renaissance1 their character profoundly different1 but their use the same1 that of dividing scenes from one another on the same woven picture4 ,but as any allusion to the ,renaissance seems to thrust us far out onto a radiant plain1 let us scamper back into the mysterious wood of the ,gothic and pick up a few more of its indicative pebbles1 even as did ,hans and ,gretel of fairyland4 ,a use of ,gothic architectural detail gives a religious look to tapestry1 quite other than the later introduction of castles4 ,these castle strongholds of the ,middle ,ages wasted no daintiness of construction1 nor favoured light ornament1 nor dainty hand4 ,they were1 par excellence1 places of defence against the frequent enemy2 so1 in bastion and tower they were piled in curving masses around the scenes of the later ,gothic tapestries4 ,even more1 they began to play an important part in the mise en scene1 and were drawn on tiny scale as habitations of the actors in the play who thrust heads from windows no larger than their throats1 or who gathered in gigantic groups on disproportioned tessellated roofs4 ,occasionally a lovely lady in distress is seen in fine raiment praying high ,heaven for deliverance from the top of a feudal pile not half as high as her stately figure4 ,laws of proportion are quite lost in this naive way of telling a story1 and one wonders whether the wise old artist of other times1 with his rigid solemnity was heroically overcoming difficulties of traditional technique1 or whether he was smiling at the infantile taste of his wealthy patrons4 ,the past fashion in history was to record only the lives and expressions of those great in power4 ,the artist is ever the servant of such1 but may he not have had his own private thoughts1 unpurchaseable1 unsold1 and therefore only for our divining4 ,there must have been a sense of humour then as now1 and twinkling eyes with which to see it4 ,,gothic ,,flowers ,always1 in studying a ,gothic tapestry1 we find flowers4 ,the flowers of nature1 they are1 a simple nature at that1 and never to be thought of in the same day as the gorgeous1 expansive1 proud flowers of the ,seventeenth and ,eighteenth ,century decoration4 ,those splendid later blossoms flaunt their richness with assured swagger and demand of man his homage1 quite forgetting it is the flower's best part to give4 ,botticelli had not outgrown the ,gothic flowers when he sprinkled them on the ambient air and floating robe of his chaste and dreamy ,venus1 nor when he set them about the elastic tripping feet of the ,spring4 ,he knew their simple power1 and so do we4 ,scarce a ,gothic tapestry is complete without them1 happily for those bent on identification1 for rarely can one discover them without the same thrill that accompanies the discovery of the first violets and snowdrops in the awakening woods4 ,the old weavers set them low in the picture1 used them as space-fillers wherever space lay happily before them1 and they never exaggerated their size1 a virtue of which the full ,renaissance cannot boast4 ,they are the simplest sort of flowers1 the corolla of petals turning as frankly toward the observer as the sunflower turns toward her god1 and little bells hanging as regularly as a chime4 ,these are their characteristics1 easily recognisable and expressing the unsophisticated charm of the creations of honest childish hands4 ,irrelevancy is theirs1 too4 ,they spring from stones or pavement as well as from turf or garden1 and thus express the more ardently their love for man and for close association with him4 ,when they are seen after this manner1 it is sure that the early men have set them1 just as ,shakespeare1 at the same epoch1 set violets blue and daisies pied1 cowslip1 rosemary for remembrance1 and other familiar dainties1 in the grim foundation stones of his tragedies4 ,a comparison of the different hangings available to the amateur1 or of the pictured examples given in this book1 will reveal more than can be well set down with the pen4 ,the use of flowers in the set of ,the ,baillee des ,roses is exceptional1 in that here the flowers form a harmonious decorative scheme and are at the same time an important part of the story which is pictured4 ,in other earliest examples they playfully peep within the limits of the hanging4 ,important use is1 however1 made of them in that altogether entrancing set of ,the ,lady and the ,unicorn1 where they indicate the beauties of a fascinating park in which the delicate lady and her attendant led a wondrous life guarded by two beasts as fabulous as faithful1 and the whole region of leaves and petals but serving as a paradise for delectable white rabbits and piquant monkeys4 ,could any modern indicate by sophistry of brush or brain so intoxicating a fairyland1 so gracious a field of dear delights8 ,,costumes ,a minute study of all the details of costume and accessories is one of the measuring sticks with which we count the years of a tapestry's life4 ,this applies more particularly to the work prior to the ,renaissance1 to the time when all characters were dressed in the mode of the day--another evidence of that ingenuousness that delights us who have passed the period where it is possible4 ,as we have noted before1 a costume cannot be used before its time1 so1 as much as anything can1 the study of its details prevents us from going too far back with its date4 ,when one has reached the point of identifying a ,gothic tapestry to where the exact decade is questioned1 the century having been ascertained1 a careful study of costumes outside the region of tapestries is necessary4 ,this leads one into a department all by itself and means delightful hours in libraries poring over illustrated books on costume4 ,it means to learn in what manner our gods and heroes of fact and fancy habited themselves1 how ,berengaria wore her head-dress and ,jehane de ,bourgogne her brocades1 and how the eternally various sleeve differed in its fashioning for both men and women4 ,head-dresses were of such size and variety that they form a study in themselves1 and dates have been fixed by these alone4 ,the turban in its evolution is an interesting study1 and makes one wonder if that1 too1 did not wander north from the ,moorish occupancy of ,spain and the wave of inspiration which flowed unceasingly from the ,orient in the years when ,europe created little without inspiration from outside4 ,a patriarchal bearded man in sacerdotal robes of costly elegance seriously impresses his fellows all through the ,gothic tapestries1 and his rival is a swaggering1 important person1 clean-shaven1 in full brocaded skirt1 fur-bound1 whose attitude declares him royal or near it4 ,the first of these is the model nowadays for stage kings1 and even a woman's toilet must vaunt itself to get notice beside his gorgeous array4 ,he wears about his waist a jewelled girdle of great splendour1 and on his head some impressive matter of either jewels or draping4 ,his face is usually full-bearded1 but even when smooth1 youth is not expressed upon him4 ,youths of the same time are more debonnaire1 are springing about1 clean-faced1 clad in short1 belted pelisse1 showing sprightly legs equally ready to step quickly towards a lovely lady or to a field of battle4 ,soldiers--let a woman hesitate to speak of their dress and arms in any tone but that of self-depreciating humility4 ,suffice it to say that in the early work they wore the armour of the time1 whether the scene depicted were an event of history cotemporaneous1 or of the time of ,moses4 ,fashions in dress changed with deliberation then1 and it is to the arms carried by the men that we must sometimes look for exactness of date4 ,,lettering ,the presence of letters is often noticed in hangings of the ,fourteenth1 ,fifteenth and early ,sixteenth ,centuries4 ,it was a fashion eminently satisfactory1 a great assistance to the observer4 ,it helped tell the story1 and1 as these old pictures had always a story to tell1 it was entirely excusable--at least1 so it seems to one who has stood confounded before a modern painting without a catalogue or other indication as to the why of certain agitated figures4 ,the lettering was1 in the older ,gothic1 explicit and unstinted1 in double or quadruple lines1 in which case it counts as decoration banded across top or bottom4 ,again1 it is as trifling as a word or two affixed to the persons of the play to designate them4 ,this lettering may be ,french or ,latin4 ,,early ,,backgrounds ,backgrounds of the early ,fifteenth ,century deal much in conventionalised1 flat patterns1 but fifty or sixty years later1 when figures began to be more crowded1 there was but little space left unoccupied by the participants in the allegory1 and this was filled by the artifices of architecture or herbage that formed the divisions into the various scenes4 ,later the designing artists decided to let into the picture the light of distant fields and skies1 and thus was introduced the suggestion of space outside the limit of the canvas4 ,,later ,,drawing ,after the ,gothic drawing1 came the avalanche of the ,renaissance4 ,that altered all4 ,the ,italian taste took precedence1 and from that time on the cartoons of tapestries represent modern art1 trailing through its various fashions or modes of the hour4 ,the purest ,renaissance is direct from the ,italian artist1 in tapestry as well as in painting1 but it is interesting to see the maladroitness of the ,flemish hand when left to draw cartoons for himself after the new manner4 ,after the ,renaissance came exaggeration and lack of sincerity2 then the improvement of the ,seventeenth ,century1 notably in ,france1 and after that the dainty fancies of the ,eighteenth ,century1 and here we are dealing with art so modern that it needs no elucidation4 ,the drawing in tapestries is a subject as fascinating as it is inexhaustible1 but1 however much one may read on it1 nothing equals actual association with as many tapestries as are available1 for the eye must be trained by vision and not by intellectual process alone4 ,,chapter ,,xix ,,identifications 7,continued7 ,if the amateur can have the fortune to see in the same hour a tapestry of the early ,fifteenth ,century1 and one a hundred years later1 and then one about #aeej1 from ,brussels1 drawn by an ,italian artist1 he has before him an exposition of tapestry weaving in its golden age when it sweeps through its greatest periods and phases to marvellous perfection4 ,the earliest example gives acquaintance with that almost fabled time of the ,gothic primitives in art2 the second shows the highest development of that art under the influence of civilisation1 and the third shows the obsession of the new art of the ,renaissance4 ,it is1 perhaps1 superfluous to say that after the revival of classic art the power of producing spontaneous ,gothic was lost forever4 ,from that time on1 every drawing has had certain characteristics1 certain sophistications that the artist cannot escape except in a deliberate copy4 ,modern art1 we call it4 ,in tapestry it began with a freedom of drawing in figures1 and an adoption of classic ornament and architecture4 ,in this connexion it is interesting to note the introduction of ,greek or ,roman detail in the columns that divide the scenes1 to see saints gathered by temples of classic form instead of ,gothic4 ,if ,renaissance details appear in a hanging called ,gothic1 it is easy to see that the piece was woven after ,europe was infected with modern art1 and this is an assistance in placing dates2 at least1 it checks the tendency to slip back too far in antiquity1 a tendency of which we in a new country are entirely guilty4 ,lest too long a lingering on the subject of design become wearisome1 a mention of later designs is made briefly4 ,the simplicity of the early ,renaissance1 the perfection of the high ,renaissance1 are both shown in tapestry as well as in paintings1 and so1 too1 is exemplified the inflation that ended in tiresome exuberance4 ,after the fruit was ripe it fell into decay4 ,after ,sixteenth ,century perfection1 ,seventeenth ,century designs fell of their own overweight1 figures were too exaggerated1 draperies billowed out as in a perpetual gale1 architecture and landscapes were too important1 and tapestries became frankly pictures to attract the attention4 ,to this class of design belong all those monstrosities which reflected and distorted the art of ,raphael1 and which have been intimately associated with ,scriptural subjects down to our own times4 ,after ,raphael1 ,rubens4 ,familiarity with this heroic painter is the key to placing all the magnificent designs similar to the set of ,antony and ,cleopatra 7,metropolitan ,museum of ,art in ,new ,york74 ,then came the easily recognisable designs of the ,french ateliers of the ,seventeenth and ,eighteenth ,centuries4 ,these are so frequently brought before us as to seem almost like products of our own day4 ,the earlier ones seem 7as ever7 the purer art1 the less sensual1 appealing to the more impersonal side of man1 dealing in battles and in classic subjects4 ,later1 the drawings1 becoming more directly personal1 in the time of ,louis ,,xiv portrayed events in the ,life of the ,king2 in the next reign1 slipping into the pleasures of the ,royal ,hunts1 from which the descent was easy into depicting nothing higher than the soft loveliness of the fantastic life of the time as led by those of high estate4 ,from ,lebrun to ,watteau one can trace the gradual seductive decline1 where heroic ideal lowers softly in alluring decadence into a mere tickling of the senses4 ,and at this time the productions of great tapestries stopped4 ,before leaving the review of drawing or design1 it is well to recall that the fleeting fashions of the day usually set the models1 not in the manner of treatment which we have been considering broadly1 but in the subject of designs4 ,for example1 the tendency to religious and morality subjects in the ,gothic1 the love for ,greek gods and heroes in the ,renaissance1 the glorification of kings and warriors at all times1 and the portrayal of royal pleasures in modern times4 ,the months of the year were woven in innumerable designs and formed an endless theme for artists' ingenuity during and after the ,renaissance4 ,,borders ,it is but natural that1 with the expansion in drawing1 the freedom given the pencil1 imagination leaped outside the pictured scene and worked fantastically on the border1 and it is to the border that we turn for many a mark of identification4 ,the subject being a full one1 it has longer consideration in a separate chapter4 ,first there is the simple outlying tape1 then the designed border4 ,the early ,gothic was but a narrow line of flowers and berries2 the later more sophisticated ,gothic enlarged and elaborated this same motive without introducing another4 ,the blossoms grew larger1 the fruit fuller and the modest cluster of berries was crowded by pears1 apples and larger fruit1 until a general air of full luxury was given4 ,the design was at first kept neatly within bordering lines of tape1 but later1 overleaped them with a flaunting leaf or mutinous flower4 ,ribbons appeared early1 then came fragmentary glimpses of dainty columns which gave nice reasons for the erect upstanding of so heavy a decoration4 ,these all were ,gothic1 but what came after shows the riotous imagination of the ,renaissance4 ,it seemed in that fruitful time1 space itself were not large enough to hold the designs within the artist's brain4 ,certainly no corner of a tapestry could be left unfilled1 and not that alone1 but filled with perfect pictures instead of with a simple repeated scheme of decoration4 ,it was in this rich time of production that the borders of tapestries grew to exceeding width1 and were divided into squares1 each square containing a scene4 ,these scenes were often of sufficient importance in composition to serve as models for the centre of a tapestry1 each one of them1 which thought gives a little idea of the fertility of the artists in that untired period4 ,it was the delight of the great ,raphael himself to expend his talent on the border of his cartoons4 ,from this artist others took their cue with varying skill1 but with fine effect1 and with unlimited interest to us4 ,those who run have time to remark only the great central picture in a hanging2 but1 to those who live with it1 this added line of exquisite panorama is an unceasing delight for the contemplative hours of solitude4 ,from this rich departure from ,gothic simplicity the artists grew into the same fulness of design that ended in decadence4 ,the border became almost obnoxious in its inflated importance and from voluptuous elegance changed to coarse overweight2 and by these signs we know the early inspired work from its rank and monstrous aftergrowth in the ,eighteenth ,century4 ,a quick glance at the plates showing the work of tapestry's next highwater mark1 the hundred years of the ,gobelins' best work1 illustrates the difference between that time and others1 and shows also the gradual drop into the border which is merely a woven representation of a gilded wood frame to enclose the woven picture as a painted one would be framed4 ,the plate of ,esther and ,ahasuerus illustrates this sort of border in the unmistakable lines of ,louis ,,xv ornament4 ,,point ,,of ,,interest ,allusion has been made to the placing of the point of interest in a tapestry1 but this is a matter to be studied by much exercise of the eye4 ,perhaps the amateur knows already much about it1 an unconscious knowledge1 and needs only to be directed to his own store of observations4 ,as much as anything this change of design depended on the uses the varying civilisation made of the hangings4 ,so much interest lies in this that ,i find myself ever prone to recapitulate the very human facts of the past2 the lining of rude stone walls and the forming of interior doors1 which was the office of the early tapestries1 and the loose full draping of the same2 then the gradual increase of luxury in the finish of dwellings themselves1 until tapestries were a decoration only2 and then the minimising of grandeur under ,louis ,,xv when everything fell into miniature and tapestries were demanded only in small pieces that could be applied to screens or chairs--a prostitution of art to the royal demand for prettiness4 ,keeping these general ideas of the uses of tapestries in mind1 it is easy to reason out the course of the point of interest in the design4 ,the ,gothic aim was to make warm and comfortable the austere apartment2 the ,renaissance sought to produce big decorative pictures to hang in place of frescoes2 and the ,french idea--beginning with that same ideal--fell at last into the production of something that should accompany the other arts in making minutely ornate the home of man4 ,therefore1 the ,gothic artist placed the point of interest high2 the artists of the ,renaissance followed the rules of modern painting 7even to the point of becoming academic72 and the last good period of the ,gobelins dropped into miniature and decoration4 ,,colours ,colours we have not yet considered1 in this chapter of review for identification's sake4 ,they follow the same line1 have the same history1 and this makes the beauty1 the logic and the consistency of our work1 the work of tracing to their source the products of other men and other times4 ,colours in the early ,gothic--of what do they remind one so strongly as of the marvels of old stained glass1 that rich1 pure kaleidoscope which has lived so long in the atmosphere of incense ascending from censer and from heart4 ,the same scale1 rich and simple1 unafraid of unshaded colour1 characterise both glass and tapestry4 ,the dyeing of colours in those days was a religion1 a religion that believed in holding fast to the forefathers' tenets4 ,red was known to be a goodly colour1 and blue an honest one2 yellow was to conjure with1 and brown to shade2 but beyond twelve or perhaps twenty colours1 the dyer never ventured4 ,to these he gave the hours of his life1 with these he subjugated the white of ,kentish wool1 and gave it honest and soft into the hand of the artist-weaver who1 we must add1 should have been thankful for this brief gamut4 ,to say the least1 we of to-day are grateful1 for to this we owe the effect of cathedral glass seen in old tapestries like that of ,the ,sacraments4 ,the ,renaissance having more sophisticated tales to tell1 a higher intellectual development to portray1 demanded a longer scale of colour1 so more were introduced to paint in wool the pictures of the artists4 ,at first we see them pure and true1 then muddy1 uncertain1 until a dull confusion comes1 and the hanging is depressing4 ,when1 at the last1 it came that a tapestry was but a painting in wool1 with as many thousand differently united threads as would reproduce the shading of brush-blended paint1 the whole thing fell of its own weight1 and we of to-day value less the unlimited pains of the elaborate dyer and weaver than we do the simpler work4 ,the reason is plain4 ,time fades a little even the securest dyes1 and that little is just enough to reduce to flat monotones a work in which perhaps sixty thousand tones are set in subtle shading4 ,,haute ,,lisse ,the worker on tapestries1 the modern restorer--to whom be much honour--finds a sign of identification in the handling of old tapestries that is scarcely within the province of the amateur1 but is worth mentioning4 ,it is the black tracing on the warp with which high-warp weavers assist their work of copying the artist's cartoon4 ,where this is present1 the work is of the prized haute lisse or high-warp manufacture1 instead of the basse lisse or low-warp4 ,but the latter is not to be spoken of disparagingly1 for in the admirable time of ,french production about the time of the formation of the ,gobelins1 low-warp work was almost as well executed as high-warp1 and as much valued4 ,brussels made her fame by haute-lisse1 but in ,france the low-warp was dubbed a la facon de ,flandres2 and as ,flanders stood for perfection1 the weavers did their best to make the low-warp production approach in excellence the famed work of the ateliers to the north1 which had formerly so prospered4 ,to find this black line is to establish the fact that the tapestry was woven on a high-warp loom1 if nothing more4 ,but that in itself means1 as is explained in the chapter on looms and modus operandi1 that a superior sort of weaver1 an artist-artisan1 did the work1 and that he had enormous difficulties to overcome in his patient task4 ,a black outline woven in the fabric is one which artists prior to the ,seventeenth ,century used to give greater strength to figures4 ,it was the habit thus to trace the entire human form1 to lift it clearly from its background1 after the poster manner of to-day4 ,it is as though a dark pencil had outlined each figure4 ,this practice stopped in later years1 and is not seen at all in the softer methods of the ,gobelins4 ,,the ,,weave ,the materials of tapestries we know to be invariably wool1 silk and metal threads1 yet the weaving of these varies with the talent of the craftsman4 ,the manner of the oldest weavers was to produce a fabric not too thick1 flexible rather--for was it not meant to hang in folds8--and of an engagingly even surface4 ,it was not too fine1 yet had none of the looseness associated with the coarse1 hurried work of later and degenerate times4 ,it was more like the even fabric we associate with machine work1 yet as unlike that as palpitating flesh is like a graven image4 ,it was the logical production of honest workmen who counted time well spent if spent in taking pains4 ,this ability1 to take detail as a religion1 has left us the precious relics of the exquisite period immediately before the ,italian artists had their way in ,brussels4 ,notice the weave here4 ,see the pattern of the fabrics worn by the personages of high estate4 ,you could almost pluck it from the tapestry1 shake out its folds1 measure it flat1 by the yard1 and find its delicate1 intelligent pattern neat and unbroken4 ,wonderful weaver1 magic hands1 infinite pains1 were those to produce such an effect on our sated modern vision1 all with a few threads of silk and wool and gold4 ,then there is the human face--it takes an artist to describe the various faces with their beauty of modelling1 their infinite variety of type1 their subtlety of expression4 ,you can almost see the flushing of the capillaries under the translucent skin1 so fine are the mediums of silk and wool under the magic handling of the talented weavers in brilliant epochs4 ,not a detail in one of these older canvases of the highest ,gothic development has been neglected4 ,the modern places his point of interest1 and1 knowing the observer's eye is to obediently linger there1 he splashes the rest of his drawing into careless subserviency4 ,but these careful older drawings showed in every inch of their execution a conscience that might put the ,puritan to shame4 ,note1 even1 the ring that is being handed to the lady in the ,mazarin tapestry of ,mr4 ,morgan's 7if yours is the happy chance to see it74 ,it was not sufficient for the weaver that it be a ring1 but it must be a ring set with a jewel1 and that jewel must be the one celebrated ever for its value2 so in the canvas glows a carefully rounded spot of pigeon-blood4 ,this exquisitely fine weaving of the period which trembled between the ,gothic and the ,renaissance made possible the execution of the later work--and yet1 and yet1 who shall say that the later is the superior work8 ,vaunted as it is1 one turns to it because one must1 but with entire fidelity of heart for the preceding manner4 ,in the high period of ,brussels production1 when the ,renaissance was well established there1 through the cartoons of the ,italian artists1 it is interesting to note the richness given to surfaces solidly filled in with gold by throwing the thread in groups of four4 ,the light is thus caught and reflected1 almost as though from a heap of cut topaz4 ,this characterises the tapestries of the ,mercury series in the ,blumenthal collection4 ,naturally1 the evenness of the weaving has much to do with the value of the piece--otherwise the pains of the old weavers would have been futile4 ,the surface smooth1 free from lumps or ridges1 strong with the even strength of well-matched threads1 this is the beauty that characterises the best work this side of the ,fifteenth ,century4 ,it is the especial prerogative of the merchant to touch with his own hands a great number of tapestries4 ,it is by this handling of the fabric that he acquires a skill in determining the make of many a tapestry4 ,there is an indefinable quality about certain wools1 and about the manner of their weaving that is only revealed by the touch4 ,not all hands are wise to detect1 but only those of the sympathetic lover of the materials they handle--and ,i have found many such among the merchant collector4 ,but even he finds identification a task as difficult as it is interesting1 and spends hours of thought and research before arriving at a conclusion--and even then will retract on new evidence4 ,,copies ,there are certain pitfalls into which one may so easily fall that they must never be out of mind4 ,the worst of these1 the pit which has the most engaging and innocent entrance1 is that of the copy1 the modern tapestry copied from the old a few decades ago4 ,it is easy to find by reference to the huge volumes of ,french writers on tapestry just when certain sets of cartoons were first woven4 ,take1 for example1 the ,acts of the ,apostles by ,raphael2 ,brussels1 #aeai1 is the authentic date4 ,but after that the ,mortlake factory in ,england wove a set1 and others followed4 ,this instance is too historic to be entirely typical1 but there are others less known4 ,it was the habit of factories that possessed a valuable set of cartoons to repeat the production of these in their own factory1 and also to make some arrangement whereby other factories could also produce the same set of hangings4 ,in the evil days that fell upon ,brussels after her apogee1 copying her own works took the place of new matters4 ,also1 in the ,french factories in their prime1 the same set was repeated on the same looms and on different ones1 vide ,the ,months1 ,the ,royal ,residences1 ,history of ,alexander1 etc41 and the gorgeous ,life of ,marie de ,medici4 ,if these notable examples were copied it is safe to conclude that many others were4 ,the study of marks is left for another chapter1 for1 by this time1 even the enthusiast is wearying4 ,there seems so much to learn in this matter of investigating and identifying1 and1 after all1 everything is uncertain4 ,one looks about at identified pieces in museums and private collections1 even among the dealers1 and the discouraging thought comes that other people can tell at a glance4 ,but this is very far from being true4 ,even the savant studies long and investigates much before he gives a positive classification of a piece that is not pedigreed4 ,here is a ,flemish piece1 here is a ,french1 he will declare1 and for the life of you you cannot see the ear-marks that tell the ancestry4 ,and so in all humility you ask1 ,how can you tell with a glance of the eye8 ,but he does not4 ,no one can do that in every case4 ,he must spend days at it1 reflecting1 reading1 handling1 if the piece is evidently one of value4 ,he will show you1 perhaps1 as an honest dealer-collector showed me1 a set of five fine pieces which he could not identify at all4 ,the weave1 said he1 is ,mortlake1 the design in part ,german1 these are ,italian putti--yet when all is told1 ,i put down the work as an ,eighteenth ,century copy of decadent ,renaissance4 ,but ,i am far from sure4 ,if a dealer1 surrounded by experienced helpers1 can thus be nonplussed1 there is little cause for humiliation on the part of the amateur who hesitates4 ,it is not expected that one can know at a glance whether a piece of work was executed in ,france1 or in ,flanders at a given epoch4 ,but the more difficult the work of identification1 the keener the zest of the hunt4 ,it is then that one calls into requisition all the knowledge of art that the individual has been unconsciously accumulating all the years of his life4 ,the applied arts reflect the art feeling of the age to which they belong1 and the diluted influence of the great artists directs them4 ,this is true of drawing and of colour4 ,history has ever its reflection on arts and crafts1 but perhaps it has in tapestry its most intentional record4 ,it is a forced and deliberate piece of egoism when a monarch or a conqueror has a huge picture drawn exhibiting his grandeur in battle or his elegance at home4 ,in some hangings modesty limits to the border of an imaginary and decorative scene the monogram of the heroine of history for whose apartments the tapestry was woven4 ,and so history is given a grace1 a delicate meaning1 a warm interest1 which is one of the side-gardens of delight that show from the long path of identification study4 ,this little book has as its aim the gentle purpose of pointing the way to a knowledge that shall be a guide in knowing gold from--not from dross1 that is too simple1 but gold from gold-plating let us say1 for the mad lover of tapestries will not admit that any hand-woven tapestry is on the low level of dross4 ,any work which human hands have touched and lingered on in execution is deserving of the respect of the modern whose life must of necessity be lived in hasty execution4 ,every chapter1 then1 is but a caution or a counsel1 and this one but a briefer statement of the same matter4 ,if onto the fringe of the main thought hangs much of history1 it is history inseparable from it1 for history of nations gives the history of great men1 and these regulate the doings of all the lesser ones below them4 ,identification1 pure and simple1 is for the rapt lover of art who pursues his game in museums and has his quiet delights that others little dream of4 ,but in general1 to the practical yet cultivated ,american1 it is a means to expend wisely the derided dollars that we impress upon other nations to the artistic enrichment of our own country4 ,,chapter ,,xx ,,borders ,if the artists of tapestries had never drawn nor ever woven anything but the borders that frame them1 we would have in that department alone sufficient matter for happy investigation and acutely refined pleasure4 ,i even go so far as to think that in certain epochs the border is the whole matter1 and the main design is but an enlargement of one of the many motives of which it is composed4 ,but that is in one particularly rich era1 and in good time we shall arrive at its joys4 ,first then--for the orderly mind grows stubborn and confused at any beginning that begins in the middle--we must hark back to the earliest tapestries4 ,tracing the growth of the border is a pleasant pastime1 a game of history in which amorini1 grotesques and nymphs are the personages1 and garlands of flowers their perpetual accessories1 but first comes the time when there were no borders1 the ,middle ,ages4 ,there were none1 according to modern parlance1 but it was usual to edge each hanging with a tape of monotone1 a woven galloon of quiet hue1 which had two purposes2 one1 to finish neatly the work1 as the housewife hems a napkin2 the other1 to provide space of simple material for hanging on rude hooks the big pictured surface4 ,this latter consideration was one of no small importance1 as we can readily see by sending the thought back to the time when tapestries led a very different life 7so human they seem in their association with men that the expression must be allowed7 from that of to-day1 when they are secured to stretchers1 or lined1 or even framed behind glass like an easel painting4 ,in those other times of romance and chivalry a great man's tapestries were always en route4 ,like their owner1 they were continually going on long marches1 nor were they allowed to rest long in one place4 ,from the familiar castle walls they were taken down to line the next habitat of their owner1 and that might be the castle of some other lord1 or it might be the tent of an encampment4 ,again1 it might be that an open-air exposition for a pageant1 was the temporary use4 ,the tapestries thus bundled about1 forever hung and unhung on hooks well or ill-spaced1 handled roughly by unknowing varlets or dull soldiers1 these tapestries suffered much1 even to the point of dilapidation1 and thus arose the need for a tape border1 and thus it happens also that the relics of that time are found mainly among the religious pieces4 ,these last found safe asylum within convent walls or in the sombre quiet of cathedral shades1 and like all who dwell within such precincts were protected from contact with a rude world4 ,one day1 sitting solitary at his wools1 it occurred to the weaver of the early ,fifteenth ,century to spill some of his flowers out upon the dark galloon that edged his work4 ,the effect was charming4 ,he experimented further1 went into the enchanted wood of such a design as that of ,the ,lady and the ,unicorn to pluck more flowers1 and of them wove a solid garland1 symmetrical1 strong1 with which to frame the picture4 ,to keep from confounding this with the airy bells and starry corollas of the tender inspiring blossoms of the work1 he made them bolder1 trained them to their service in solid symmetric mass1 and edged the whole1 both sides1 with the accustomed two-inch line of solid rich maroon or blue4 ,it is easy to see the process of mind4 ,for a long time there had been gropings1 the feeling that some sort of border was needed1 a division line between the world of reality and the world of fable4 ,examine the ,arras work and see to what tricks the artist had recourse4 ,the architectural resource of columns1 for example2 where he could do so1 the artist decoyed one to the margin4 ,thus he slipped in a frame1 and broke none of the canons of his art1 and no more beautiful frame could have been devised1 as we see by following up the development and use of the column4 ,once out from its position in the edge of the picture into its post in the border1 it never stops in its beauty of growth until it reaches such perfection as is seen in the twisted and garlanded columns which flank the ,rubens series1 and those superb shafts in ,the ,royal ,residences of ,lebrun at the ,gobelins under ,louis ,,xiv4 ,the other trick of framing in his subject which was open to the ,arras weaver whom we call ,gothic1 was to set verses1 long lines of print in ,french or ,latin at top or bottom4 ,but his first real legitimate border was made of the same flowers and leaves that made graceful the finials and capitals of ,gothic carving4 ,small clustered fruit1 like grapes or berries1 came naturally mixed with these1 as ,nature herself gives both fruit and flowers upon the earth in one fair month4 ,simplicity was the thing1 and a continued turning to ,nature1 not as to a cult like a latter-day nature-student1 but as a child to its mother1 or a hart to the water brook4 ,as even in a border1 stayed between two lines of solid-coloured galloon1 flowers and fruit do not stand forever upright without help1 the weaver gave probability to his abundant mass by tying it here and there with a knot of ribbon and letting the ribbon flaunt itself as ribbons have ever done to the delight of the eye that loves a truant4 ,by this time--crawling over the top of the ,fourteen ,hundreds--the border had grown wider1 had left its meagre allowance of three or four inches1 and was fast acquiring a foot in width4 ,this meant more detail1 a broader design1 coarser flowers1 bigger fruit1 and these spraying over the galloon1 and all but invading the picture4 ,it was all in the way of development4 ,the simplicity of former times was lost1 but design was groping for the great change1 the change of the ,renaissance4 ,the border tells quickly when it dawned1 and when its light put out all candles like a glorious sun--not forgetting that some of those candles would better have been left burning4 ,by this time ,brussels was the centre of manufacture and the cartoonist had come to influence all weavings4 ,just as carpenters and masons1 who were the planners and builders of our forefathers' homes1 have now to submit to the domination of the ,ecole des ,beaux ,arts graduates1 so the man at the loom came under the direction of ,italian artists4 ,and even the border was not left to the mind of the weaver1 but was carefully and consistently planned by the artist to accompany his greater work1 if greater it was4 ,raphael himself set that fashion4 ,he was a born decorator1 and in laying out the borders of his tapestries unbridled his wonderful invention and let it produce as many harmonies as could be crowded into miniature4 ,he set the fashion of dividing the border into as many sections as symmetry would allow1 dividing them so daintily that the eye scarce notes the division1 so purely is it of the intellect4 ,in the border for the ,acts of the ,apostles1 this style of treatment is the one he preferred4 ,this set has no copy in ,america1 but an almost unrivalled example of this style of border is in the private collection of ,george ,blumenthal1 ,esq41 the ,herse and ,mercury4#af ,here picture follows picture in charming succession1 in that purity and perfection of design with which the early ,renaissance delights us4 ,the classic note set by the subject of the hanging is never forgotten1 but on this key is played a varied harmony of line and colour4 ,for dainty invention1 this sort of border reaches a very high expression of art4 ,if ,raphael set the fashion1 others at least were not slow in seizing the new idea and from that time on1 until a period much later--that of the ,gobelins under ,louis ,,xv--it was the fashion to introduce great and distracting interest into the border4 ,even the little galloon became a twist of two ribbons around a repeated flower1 or a small reciprocal pattern1 so covetous was design of all plain spaces4 ,lesser artists than ,raphael also divided the border into squares and oblongs1 and with charming effect4 ,the sides were built up after the same fashion1 but instead of the delicate architectural divisions he affected1 partitions were made with massed fruit and flowers1 vines and trellises4 ,the scenes were surprisingly dramatic1 ,flemish artists showing a preference for such ,biblical reminders as ,samson with his head being shorn in ,delilah's lap1 while ,philistines just beyond waited the enervating result of the barber's work2 or1 any of the loves and conflicts of the ,greek myths was used4 ,the colouring--too much cannot be seen of the warm1 delicate blendings4 ,there is always the look of a flowerbed at dawn1 before ,chanticleer's second call has brought the sun to sharpen outlines1 before dreams and night-mist have altogether quitted the place4 ,plenty of warm wood colours are there1 of lake blues1 of smothered reds4 ,precious they are to the eye1 these scenes1 but hard to find now except in bits which some dealer has preserved by framing in a screen or in the carved enclosure of some nut-wood chair4 ,for a time borders continued thus1 all marked off without conscious effort1 into countless delicious scenes4 ,then a change begins4 ,after perfection1 must come something less until the wave rises again4 ,if in ,raphael's time the border claimed a two-foot strip for its imaginings1 it was slow in coming narrower again1 and need required that it be filled4 ,but here is where the variance lay3 ,raphael had so much to say that he begged space in which to portray it2 his imitators had so much space to fill that their heavy imagination bungled clumsily in the effort4 ,they filled it1 then1 with a heterogeneous mass of foliage1 fruit and flowers1 trained occasionally to make a bower for a woman1 a stand for a warrior1 but all out of scale1 never keeping to any standard1 and lost absolutely in unintelligent confusion4 ,the ,flemings in their decadence did this1 and the ,italians in the ,seventeenth ,century did more1 they introduced all manner of cartouche4 ,the cartouche plays an important part in the boasting of great families and the sycophancy of those who cater to men of high estate1 for it served as a field whereon to blazon the arms of the patron1 who doubtless felt as man has from all time1 that he must indeed be great whose symbols or initials are permanently affixed to art or architecture4 ,the cartouche came to divide the border into medallions1 to apportion space for the various motives2 but with a far less subtle art than that of the older men who traced their airy arbours and trailed their dainty vines and set their delicate grotesques1 in a manner half playful and wholly charming4 ,but when the cartouche appeared1 what is the effect8 ,it is as though a boxful of old brooches had been at hand and these were set1 symmetrically balanced1 around the frame1 and the spaces between filled with miscellaneous ornament on a scale of sumptuous size4 ,confusing1 this1 and a far cry from harmony4 ,yet1 such are the seductions of tapestry in colour and texture1 and so caressing is the hand of time1 that these borders of the ,seventeenth ,century given us by ,italy and ,flanders1 are full of interest and beauty4 ,the very bombast of them gives joy4 ,who can stand before the ,barberini set1 ,the ,mysteries of the ,life and ,death of ,jesus ,christ1 bequeathed to the ,cathedral of ,st4 ,john1 the ,divine1 in ,new ,york1 by ,mrs4 ,clarke1 without being more than pleased to recognise in the border the indefatigable ,barberini bee8 ,we are human enough to glance at the pictures of sacred scenes as on a tale that is told1 but that potent insect makes us at once acquainted with a family of renown1 puts us on a friendly footing with a great cardinal of the house1 reminds us of sundry wanderings of our own in ,rome2 and then1 suddenly flashes from its wings a memory of the great conqueror of ,europe1 who after the ,italian campaign1 set this bee among his own personal symbols and called it ,napoleonic4 ,yes1 these things interest us enormously1 personally1 for they pique imagination and help memory to fit together neatly the wandering bits of history's jigsaw puzzle4 ,besides this1 they help the work of identifying old tapestries1 a pleasure so keen that every sense is enlivened thereby4 ,when decorative design deserts the ,greek example1 it strays on dangerous ground1 unless ,nature is the model4 ,the ,italians of the ,seventeenth ,century1 tired of forever imitating and copying1 lost all their refinement in the effort to originate4 ,grossness1 sensuality took the place of fine purity in border designs4 ,inflation1 so to speak1 replaced inspiration4 ,amorini--the word can hardly be used without suggesting the gay babes who tumble deliciously among ,correggio's clouds or who snatch flowers in ways of grace1 on every sort of decoration4 ,in these later drawings1 these tapestry borders of say #afej1 they are monsters of distortion1 and resemble not at all the rosy child we know in the flesh4 ,they are overfed1 self-indulgent1 steeped in the wisdom of a corrupt and licentious experience4 ,i cannot feel that anyone should like them1 except as curiosities of a past century4 ,heavy swags of fruit1 searching for larger things1 changed to pumpkins1 melons1 in the gross fashion of enlarged designs for borders4 ,almost they fell of their own weight4 ,cornucopias spilled out1 each one1 the harvest of an acre4 ,and thus paucity of imagination was replaced by increase in the size of each object used in filling up the border's allotted space4 ,after this riot had continued long enough in its inebriety1 the corrective came through the influence of ,rubens in the ,north and of ,lebrun in ,france4 ,these two geniuses knew how to gather into their control the art strength of their age1 and to train it into intellectual results4 ,mere bulk1 mere space-filling1 had to give way under the mind force of these two men1 who by their superb invention gave new standards to decorative art in ,flanders and in ,france4 ,drawings were made in scale again1 and designs were built in harmony1 constructed not merely to catch the eye1 but to gratify the logical mind4 ,the day was for the grandiose in borders4 ,the petite and mignonne of ,raphael's grotesques was no longer suited to the people1 or1 to put it otherwise1 the people were not such as seek expression in refinement1 for all art is but the visible evidence of a state of mind or soul4 ,the wish to be sumptuous and superb1 then1 was a force1 and so the art expressed it1 but in a way that holds our admiration4 ,a stroll in the ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art1 ,new ,york1 shows us better than words the perfection of design at this grandiose era4 ,there one sees ,antony and ,cleopatra of ,rubens--probably4 ,on these hangings the border has all the evidences of genius4 ,if there were no picture at all to enclose1 if there were but this decorative frame1 a superb inspiration would be flaunted4 ,from substantial urns at right and left1 springs the design at the sides which mounts higher and higher1 design on design1 but always with probability4 ,that is the secret of its beauty1 its probability1 yet we are cheated all the time and like it4 ,no vase of fruit could ever uphold a cupid's frolic1 nor could an emblematic bird support a chalice1 yet the artist makes it seem so4 ,note how he hangs his swags1 and swings his amorini1 from the horizontal borders4 ,he first sets a good strong architectural moulding of classic egg-and-dart1 and leaf1 and into this able motive thrusts hooks and rings4 ,from these solid facts he hangs his happy weight of fruit and flower and peachy flesh4 ,nothing could be more simple1 nothing could be more logical4 ,the cartouche at the top1 he had no choice but to put it there1 to hold the title of the picture1 and at the bottom came a tiny landscape to balance4 ,so much for fashion well executed4 ,colours were reformed1 too1 at this time1 for we are now at the era when tapestry had its last run of best days1 that is to say1 at the time when ,france began her wondrous ascendency under ,louis ,,xiv4 ,in ,italy colours had grown garish4 ,too much light in that country of the sun1 flooded and over-coloured its pictured scenes4 ,tints were too strong1 masses of blue and yellow and red glared all in tones purely bright4 ,they may have suited the twilight of the church1 the gloom of a palace closed in narrow streets1 but they scourge the modern eye as does a blasting light4 ,the ,gothic days gave borders the deep soft tones of serious mood2 the ,renaissance played on a daintier scale2 the ,seventeenth ,century rushed into too frank a palette4 ,it remained for ,rubens and ,lebrun to find a scheme both rich and subdued1 to bring back the taste errant4 ,here let me note a peculiarity of colour1 noticeable in work of ,seventeenth and ,eighteenth ,century borders4 ,the colour tone varies in different pieces of the same set1 and this is not the result of fading1 but was done by deliberate intent1 one side border being light and another dark1 or one entire border being lighter than others of the same set4 ,lest in speaking of borders1 too much reference might be made to the history of tapestry in general1 ,i have left out ,simon ,vouet and ,henri ,lerambert as inspired composers of the frame which enclosed their cartoons2 but it is well to say briefly that these men at least had not followed false gods1 and were not guilty of the flagrant offence to taste that put a smirch on ,italian art4 ,these are the men who preceded the establishment of ,state ateliers under ,louis ,,xiv and who made productive the reign of ,henri ,,iv4 ,if ,rubens kept to a style of large detail1 that was a popular one and had many followers in a grandiose age4 ,lebrun in borders harked back to the classics of ,greece and ,rome1 thus restoring the exquisite quality of delicacy associated with a thousand designs of amphorae1 foliated scrolls and light grotesques4 ,but he expressed himself more individually and daringly in the series called ,the ,months and ,the ,royal ,residences4 ,this set is so celebrated1 so delectable1 so grateful to the eye of the tapestry lover1 that familiarity with it must be assumed4 ,you recollect it1 once you have seen no more than a photograph of one of its squares4 ,but it cannot be pertinent here1 for it has no important border1 say you4 ,no1 rather it is all border4 ,look what the cunning artist has done4 ,his problem was to picture twelve country houses4 ,to his mind it must have seemed like converting a room into an architect's office1 to hang it full of buildings4 ,but genius came to the front1 his wonderful feeling for decoration1 and lo1 he filled his canvas with glorious foreground1 full of things man lives with2 columns1 the size appropriate to the salon they are placed in2 urns1 peacocks1 all the ante-terrace frippery of the grand age1 arranged in the foreground4 ,garlands are fresh hung on the columns as though our decorator had but just posed them1 and beyond are clustered trees--with a small opening for a vista4 ,way off in the light-bathed distance stands the faithfully drawn chateau1 but here1 here where the observer stands1 is all elegance and grace and welcome shade1 and close friendship with luxury4 ,this work of ,lebrun's is then the epitome of border4 ,greater than this hath no man done1 to make a tapestry all border which yet so intensified the value of the small central design1 that not even the royal patron1 jealous of his own conspicuousness1 discovered that art had replaced display4 ,after that a great change came4 ,as the picture ever regulates the border1 that change was but logical4 ,after the ,sun ,king came the regency of the effeminate ,philippe1 whom the ,queen ,mother had kept more like a court page than a man4 ,artists lapped over from the previous reign1 and these were encouraged to develop the smaller1 daintier1 more effeminate designs that had already begun to assert their charm4 ,borders took on the new method4 ,and as small space was needed for the curves and shells and latticed bands1 the border narrower grew4 ,like ,alice1 after the potent dose1 the border shrank and shrank1 until in time it became a gold frame1 like the encadrement of any easel picture4 ,and that1 too1 was logical1 for tapestries became at this time like painted pictures1 and lost their original significance of undulating hangings4 ,the well-known motives of the ,louis ,,xv decoration rippled around the edge of the tapestry1 woven in shades of yellow silk and imitated well the carved and gilded wood of other frames1 those of chairs and screens and paintings4 ,there are those who deplore the mode1 but at least it seems appropriate to the style of picture it encloses4 ,and here let us consider a moment this matter of appropriateness4 ,so far we have thought only of tapestries and their borders as inseparable1 and as composed at the same time4 ,but1 alas1 this is the ideal2 the fact is that in the habit which weavers had of repeating their sets when a model proved a favourite among patrons1 led them into providing variety by setting up a different border around the drawing4 ,as this reproducing1 this copying of old cartoons was sometimes done one or two hundred years after the original was drawn1 we find an anachronism most disagreeable to one who has an orderly mind1 who hates to see a telephone in a ,venus' shell1 for instance4 ,the whole thing is thrown out of key4 ,it is as though your old family portrait of the ,colonial ,governor was framed in art nouveau4 ,the big men1 the almost divine ,raphael1 and later ,rubens1 felt so keenly the necessity of harmony between picture and frame1 that they were not above drawing their own borders1 and it is evident they delighted in the work4 ,but ,raphael's cartoons went not only to ,brussels1 but elsewhere1 and somehow the borders got left behind2 and thus we see his celebrated suite of ,acts of the ,apostles with a different entourage in the ,madrid set from what it bears in ,rome4 ,there is another matter1 and this has to do with commerce more than art4 ,an old tapestry is of such value that mere association with it adds to the market price of newer work4 ,so it is that sometimes a whole border is cut off and transferred to an inferior tapestry1 and the tapestry thus denuded is surrounded with a border woven nowadays in some atelier of repairs1 copied from an old design4 ,let such desecrators beware4 ,the border of a tapestry must appertain1 must be an integral part of the whole design for the sake of artistic harmony4 ,,footnote3 #af ,frontispiece4 ,,chapter ,,xxi ,,tapestry ,,marks ,regardless of what a man's longing for fame may have been in the ,middle ,ages1 he let his works pass into the world without a sign upon them that portrayed their author4 ,this is as true of the lesser arts as of the greater4 ,it was not the fashion in the days of ,giotto1 nor of ,raphael1 to sign a painting in vermillion with a flourished underscore4 ,the artist was content to sink individuality in the general good1 to work for art's sake1 not for personal fame4 ,this was true of the lesser artists who wove or directed the weaving of the tapestries called ,gothic1 not only through the time of the simple earnest primitives1 but through the brilliant high development of that style as shown at the studio of ,jean de ,rome1 of the ,brussels ateliers1 through the years lying between the close of the ,fifteenth ,century and the ,raphael invasion4 ,even that important event brought no consequence of that sort4 ,the freemasonry among celebrities in those days showed its perfection by this very lack of signed work4 ,everybody knew the man by his works1 and the works by their excellence4 ,tapestry marks were non-existent as a system until the ,brussels edict of #aebh made them compulsory in that town4 ,documents and history have been less unkind to those early workers1 and to those of us who like to feel the thrill of human brotherhood as it connects the artist and craftsman centuries dead with our own strife for the ideal4 ,nicolas ,bataille in #acgi cannot remain unknown since the publishing of certain documents concerning his ,christmas task of the ,apocalypse1 and there are scores of known master weavers reaching up through the ages to the time when marks began4 ,the ,brussels mark was the first4 ,it was a simple and appropriate composition1 a shield flanked with two letters ,b4 ,these were capitals or not4 ,one was reversed or not1 with little arbitrariness1 for the mark was legible and unmistakable in any case1 even though the weaver took great liberties--as he sometimes did4 ,the place for this mark was the galloon1 and it was usually executed in a lighter colour1 but a single tone4 ,illustration3 ,,brussels ,so much for the town mark1 which has a score or more of variations4 ,in addition to this was the mark of the weaver or of the merchant who gave the commission4 ,a pity it was thus to confound the two1 to give such confusion between a gifted craftsman and a mere dealer4 ,one was giving the years of his life and the cunning of his hand to the work1 while the other did but please a rich or royal patron with his wares4 ,but so it was1 and we can but study over the symbols and glean at least that the tapestry was considered a worthy one1 reached the high standard of the day1 or it would have had no mark at all4 ,for it was thus that the marks were first adopted4 ,they were for the protection of every one against fraud4 ,high perfection made ,brussels famous1 but fame brought with it such a rush of patronage that only by lessening the quality of productions could orders be filled in such hot haste4 ,tricks of the trade grew and prospered2 there were tricks of dyeing after a tapestry was finished1 in case the flesh tints or other light shades were not pleasing4 ,there was a trick of dividing a large square into strips so that several looms might work upon it at once4 ,and there was all manner of slighting in the weave1 in the use of the comb which makes close the fabric1 in the setting of the warp to make a less than usual number of threads to the inch4 ,in fact1 men tricked men as much in those days as in our own4 ,the fame of the city's industry was in danger4 ,it was the province of the guild of tapestry-makers to protect it against its own evils4 ,thus1 in #aebh1 a few years after the weaving of the ,raphael tapestries1 the law was made that all tapestries should bear the ,brussels mark and that of the weaver or the client4 ,small tapestries were exempt1 but at that time small tapestries were not frequent1 or were simple verdures1 and1 charming as they are1 they lacked the same intellectual effort of composition4 ,the ,brussels guild stipulated the size at which the tapestry should be marked4 ,it was given at six ells1 a ,flemish ell being about #bga_/b inches4 ,therefore1 a tapestry under approximately thirteen feet might escape the order4 ,but that was the day of large tapestries1 the day of the ,italian cartoonists1 and important pieces reached that measure4 ,the guild of the tapissiers in ,brussels1 once started on restrictions1 drew article after article1 until it seemed that manacles were put on the masters' hands4 ,to these restrictions the decadence of ,brussels is ascribed1 but that were like laying a criminal's fault to the laws of the country4 ,primarily must have been the desire to shirk1 the intent to do questionable work4 ,and behind that must have been a basic cause4 ,possibly it was one of those which we are apt to consider modern1 that is1 the desire to turn effort into the coin of the realm4 ,all of the enormous quantity of orders received by ,brussels in the days of her highest prosperity could not have been accepted had not the master of the ateliers pressed his underlings to highest speed4 ,speed meant deterioration in quality of work1 and so ,brussels tried by laws to prevent this lamentable result1 and to protect the fair fame of the symbol woven in the bordering galloon4 ,the other sign which accompanied the town mark1 of the two letters ,b1 should have had excellent results1 the personal mark of the weaver that his work might be known4 ,in spite of this spur to personal pride1 the standard lessened in a few years1 but not until certain weavers had won a fame that thrills even at this distance4 ,unfortunately1 a great client was considered as important as a weaver1 and it was often his arbitrary sign that was woven4 ,and sometimes a dealer1 wishing glory through his dealings1 ordered his sign in the galloon4 ,and thus comes a long array of signs which are not identifiable always4 ,in general1 one or two initials were introduced into these symbols1 which were fanciful designs that any idle pencil might draw1 but in the lapse of years it is not possible to know which able weaver or what great purveyor to royalty the letter ,a or ,b or ,c may have signified4 ,happily the light of ,wilhelm de ,pannemaker could not be hid even by piling centuries upon it4 ,his works were of such a nature that1 like those of ,van ,aelst1 who had no mark1 they would always be known for their historic association4 ,in illustration1 there is his set of the ,conquest of ,tunis 7plate facing page #fb71 woven under circumstances of interest4 ,even without a mark1 it would still be known that the master weaver of ,brussels 7whom all acknowledged ,pannemaker to be7 set up his looms1 so many that it must have seemed to the folk of ,granada that a new industry had come to live among them4 ,and it is a matter of ,spanish history that the great ,emperor ,charles ,v carried in his train the court artist1 ,van ,orley1 that his exploits be pictured for the gratification of himself and posterity4 ,but ,wilhelm de ,pannemaker lived and worked in the time of marks1 so his tapestries bear his sign in addition to the ,brussels mark4 ,of symbols he had as many as nine or ten1 but all of the same general character1 taking as their main motive the ,w and the ,p of his name4 ,illustration3 ,,wilhelm ,,de ,,pannemaker ,incorporated into his sign1 as into many others of the period1 was a mark resembling a figure #d4 ,tradition has it that when this four was reversed1 the tapestry was not for a private client1 but for a dealer4 ,one set of the ,vertumnus and ,pomona at ,madrid 7plates facing pages #gb1 #gc1 #gd1 #ge7 bears ,de ,pannemaker's mark1 while others have a conglomerate pencilling4 ,the sign of ,jacques ,geubels is1 like ,w4 de ,pannemaker's1 made up of his initials combined with fantastic lines which doubtless were full of meaning to their inventor1 little as they convey to us4 ,the example of ,jacques ,geubels' weaving given in the plate is from the ,chicago ,institute of ,art4 ,his time was late ,sixteenth ,century4 ,the ,acts of the ,apostles of ,raphael1 the first set1 was woven by ,peter van ,aelst without a mark1 but the set at ,madrid bears the marks of several ,brussels weavers1 some attributed to ,nicolas ,leyniers4 ,the desirability of distinguishing tapestries by marks in the galloon appealed to other weaving centres1 and the method of ,brussels found favour outside that town4 ,presently ,bruges adopted a sign similar to that of her neighbour1 by adding to the double ,b and shield a small b traversed by a crown4 ,illustration3 ,,jacques ,,geubels ,illustration3 ,,nicolas ,,leyniers ,illustration3 ,,bruges ,in ,oudenarde1 that town of wonderful verdures1 the weavers1 as though by trick of modesty1 often avoided such clues to identity as a woven letter might be1 and adopted signs4 ,however significant and famous they may have been in the ,sixteenth ,century1 they mean little now4 ,the town mark with which these were combined was distinctly a striped shield with decoration like antennae4 ,illustration3 ,,oudenarde ,enghien is one of the tapestry towns of which we are gradually becoming aware4 ,its products have not always been recognised1 but of late more interest is taken in this tributary to the great stream of the ,sixteenth and ,seventeenth ,centuries4 ,the famous ,peter or ,pierre van ,aelst1 selected from all of ,flanders' able craftsmen to work for ,raphael and the ,pope1 was born in this little town1 wove here and1 more yet1 was known as ,pierre of ,enghien4 ,yet it is the larger town of ,brussels which wore his laurels4 ,illustration3 ,,enghien ,the ,enghien town marks are an easy adaptation of the arms of the place1 and the weavers' marks are generally monograms4 ,weavers' marks1 after playing about the eccentricities of cipher1 changed in the ,seventeenth ,century to easily read initials1 sometimes interlaced1 sometimes apart4 ,later on it became the mode to weave the entire name4 ,an example of these is the two letters ,c of ,charles de ,comans on the galloon of ,meleager and ,atalanta 7plate facing page #fh72 and the name ,g4 ,v4 ,d4 ,strecken in the ,antony and ,cleopatra 7plate facing page #gi74 ,other countries than ,flanders were wise in their generation1 and placed the marks that are so welcome to the eye of the modern who seeks to know all the secrets of the tapestry before him4 ,in the ,seventeenth ,century1 when ,paris was gathering her scattered decorative force for later demonstration at the ,gobelins1 the city had a pretty mark for its own1 a simple fleur-de-lis and the initial ,p1 and the initials of the weaver4 ,illustration3 ,,paris ,illustration3 ,,alex4 ,,de ,,comans ,illustration3 ,,charles ,,de ,,comans ,that ,jean ,lefevre1 who with his father ,pierre was imported into ,italy to set the mode of able weaving for the ,florentines1 had a sign unmistakable on the ,gobelins tapestries of the ,history of the ,king4 7,plate facing page #aad47 ,it was a simple monogram or union of his initials4 ,in the ,eighteenth ,century the ,gobelins took the fleur-de-lis of ,paris1 and its own initial letter ,g4 ,the modern ,gobelins' marks combined the ,g with an implement of the craft1 a broche and a straying thread4 ,illustration3 ,,jean ,,lefevre ,illustration3 ,,gobelins1 #ah,,th ,,century ,illustration3 ,,gobelins1 ,,modern ,in ,italy1 in the middle of the ,sixteenth ,century1 we find the able ,flemings1 ,nicholas ,karcher and ,john ,rost1 using their personal marks after the manner of their country4 ,karcher thus signed his marvellously executed grotesques of ,bacchiacca which hang in the gallery of tapestries in ,florence4 7,plates facing pages #dh and #di47 ,john ,rost's fancy led him to pun upon his name by illustrating a fowl roasting on the spit4 ,karcher had a little different mark in the ,ferrara looms1 where he went at the call of the d',este ,duke4 ,illustration3 ,,karcher1 ,,florence ,illustration3 ,,john ,,rost ,illustration3 ,,karcher1 ,,ferrara ,the ,florence factory made a mark of its own1 refreshingly simple1 avoiding all of the cabalistic intricacies that are so often made meaningless by the passing of the years1 and which were affected by the early ,brussels weavers4 ,the mark found on ,florence tapestries is the famous ,florentine lily1 and the initial of the town4 ,the mark of ,pierre ,lefevre1 when weaving here1 was a combination of letters4 ,illustration3 ,,pierre ,,lefevre1 ,,florence ,illustration3 ,,mortlake ,when the ,mortlake factory was established in ,england1 the date was sufficiently late1 #afai1 for marking to be considered a necessity4 ,the factory mark was a simple shield quartered by means of a cross thrown thereon4 ,sir ,francis ,crane contented himself with a simple ,f4 ,c41 one a-top the other1 as his identification4 ,philip de ,maecht1 he whose family went from ,holland to ,england as tapissiers1 directed at ,mortlake the weaving of a part of the celebrated ,vulcan and ,venus series1 and his monogram can be seen on ,the ,expulsion of ,vulcan from ,olympus 7coloured plate facing page #agj71 owned by ,mrs4 ,a4 von ,zedlitz1 as well as in the other rare ,vulcan pieces owned by ,philip ,hiss1 ,esq4 ,this same ,philip de ,maecht worked under ,de ,comans in ,paris1 he having been decoyed thence by the wise organisers of ,mortlake4 ,illustration3 ,,sir ,,francis ,,crane ,illustration3 ,,philip ,,de ,,maecht ,the marks on tapestries are as numerous as the marks on china or silver1 and the absence of marks confronts the hunter of signs with baffling blankness1 as is the case of many very old wares1 whether china1 silver or tapestries4 ,also1 late work of poor quality is unmarked4 ,having thus disposed of the situation1 it remains to identify the marks when they exist4 ,the exhaustive works of the ,french writers must be consulted for this pleasure4 ,there are hundreds of known signs1 but there exist also many unidentified signs1 yet the presence of a sign of any kind is a keen joy to the owner of a hanging which displays it4 ,illustration3 ,,tournay ,illustration3 ,,lille ,,chapter ,,xxii ,,how ,,it ,,is ,,made ,wanting to see the wheels go 'round is a desire not limited to babes4 ,we1 with our minds stocked with the history and romance of tapestry1 yet want to know just how it is made in every particular1 just how the loom works1 how the threads are placed4 ,it seems that there must be some obscure and occult secret hidden within the looms that work such magic1 and we want to pluck it out1 lay it in the sunlight and dissect its intricacies4 ,well1 then1 let us enter a tapestry factory and see what is there4 ,but it is safe to forecast the final deduction--which must ever be that the god of patience is here omnipotent4 ,talent there must be1 but even that is without avail if patience lacks4 ,the factory for tapestries seems1 then1 little like a factory4 ,the belt and wheel1 the throb and haste are not there4 ,the whole place seems like a quiet school1 where tasks are done in silence broken by an occasional voice or two4 ,it is a place where every one seems bent on accomplishing a brave amount of fancy-work2 a kindergarten1 if you like1 for grown-ups4 ,within are many departments of labour4 ,the looms are the thing1 of course1 so must be considered first1 although much preparing is done before their work can be begun4 ,the looms are classic in their method1 in their simplicity4 ,they have scarcely changed since the days when ,solomon built his ,temple and draped it with such gorgeous hangings that even the inspired writers digress to emphasise their richness with long descriptions that could not possibly have assisted the cause of their religion4 ,the stitch made by the modern loom is the same as that made by the looms of the furthermost-back ,egyptian1 by the ,greeks1 by the ,chinese1 of primitive peoples everywhere1 by the people of the ,east in the familiar ,khelim rugs1 and by the aborigines of the two ,americas4 ,there is nothing new1 nothing obscure about it1 being a simple weaving of warp and woof4 ,penelope's loom was the same almost as that in use to-day at the ,gobelins factory in ,paris4 ,archeologists have discovered pictures of the ancient ,egyptian loom1 and of ,penelope's1 and there is but little change from the times of these ladies to our days4 ,the fact is1 the work is hand-work1 must always be so1 and the loom is but a tool for its working1 a tool which keeps in place the threads set by hand4 ,that is why tapestry must always be valuable and original and no more possible to copy by machine than is a painting4 ,high warp and low warp are the terms so often used as to seem a shibboleth4 ,haute lisse and basse lisse are their ,french equivalents4 ,they describe the two kinds of looms1 the former signifying the loom which stands upright1 or high2 the latter indicating the loom which is extended horizontally or low4 ,on the high loom1 the instrument which holds the thread is called the broche1 and on the low loom it is called the flute4 ,the stitch produced by the two is the same4 ,the manner of producing it varies in convenience to the operators1 the low-warp being the easier1 or at least the more convenient and therefore the quicker method4 ,the cynic is ever ready to say that the tyrant living within a man declares only for those things which represent great sacrifice of time and effort on the part of other men4 ,perhaps it is true1 and that therein lies the preference of the connoisseur in tapestry for the works of the high-warp loom4 ,even the wisest experts cannot always tell by an examination of a fabric1 on which sort of loom it was woven1 high warp or low1 other evidence being excluded4 ,the high loom has1 then1 the threads of its warp hung like a weighted veil1 from the top of the loom to the floor1 with a huge wooden roller to receive the finished fabric at the bottom and one at the top for the yet unneeded threads4 ,each thread of the warp is caught by a loop1 which in turn is fastened to a movable bar1 and by means of this the worker is able to advance or withdraw the alternate threads for the casting of the broche or flute1 which is the shuttle4 ,behind the veil of the warp sits the weaver--tissier or tapissier--with his supply of coloured thread2 back of him is the cartoon he is copying4 ,he can only see his work by means of a little mirror the other side of his warp1 which reflects it4 ,the only indulgence that convenience accords him is a tracing on the white threads of the warp1 a copy of the picture he is weaving4 ,thus stands the prisoner of art1 sentenced to hard labour1 but with the heart-swelling joy of creating1 to lighten his task4 ,illustration3 ,,weaver ,,at ,,work ,,on ,,low ,,loom4 ,,herter ,,studio ,illustration3 ,,sewing ,,and ,,repair ,,department4 ,,baumgarten ,,ateliers ,high-warp looms were those that made famous the tapestries of ,arras in the ,fifteenth ,century1 of ,brussels in the ,sixteenth1 and of ,paris in the ,seventeenth1 therefore it is not strange that they are worshipped as having a resident1 mysterious power4 ,to-day1 the age of practicality1 they scarcely exist outside the old ,gobelins in ,paris4 ,but this is not the day of tapestry weaving4 ,a shuttle1 thrown by machine1 goes all the width of the fabric1 back and forth4 ,the flute or broche1 which is the shuttle of the tapestry weaver1 flies only as far as it is desired to thrust it1 to finish the figure on which its especial colour is required4 ,thus1 a leaf1 a detail of any small sort1 may mount higher and higher on the warp1 to its completion1 before other adjacent parts are attempted4 ,the effect of this is to leave open slits1 petty gashes in the fabric1 running lengthwise of the warp1 and these are all united later with the needle1 in the hands of the women who thus finish the pieces4 ,unused colours wound on the hundreds of flutes are dropped at the demand of the pattern1 left in a rich confusion of shades to be resumed by the workmen at will2 but the threads are not severed1 if the colour is to be used again soon4 ,low-warp work is the same except for the weaver's position in relation to his work4 ,instead of the warp like a thin wall before his face1 on which he seems to play as on one side of a harp1 the warp is extended before him as a table4 ,it is easy to see how much more convenient is this method4 ,the wooden rollers are the same1 one for the yet unused length of warp1 the other for the finished fabric1 and over one of these rollers the worker leans1 protected from its hostile hardness by a pillow4 ,the pattern lies below1 just beneath the warp1 and easily seen through it1 not the mere tracing as on the threads of the high-warp loom1 but the coloured cartoon1 so that shades may be followed as well as lines4 ,it sometimes happens1 however1 in copying a valuable old tapestry1 that a black and white drawing only is placed under the warp while the original is suspended behind the weavers1 who look to it for colour suggestion4 ,in low-warp the worker has the privilege of laying his flutes on top the work1 the flutes not at the moment in use1 and there they lie in convenient mass ready to resume for the figure abandoned for another4 ,if the right hand thrusts the flute1 it is the duty of the left to see that the alternate and the limiting threads of the warp are properly lifted4 ,first comes a pressure of the foot on a long1 lath-like pedal which is attached to the bar holding in turn the loops which pass around alternate threads4 ,that pressure lifts the threads1 and the fingers of the left hand1 deft and agile1 limit and select those which the flute shall cover with its coloured woof4 ,after the casting of a thread1 or of a group of threads1 the weaver picks up a comb of steel or of ivory1 and packs hard the woof1 one line against another1 to make the fabric firm and even in the weaving4 ,illustration3 ,,baumgarten ,,tapestry4 ,,late ,,nineteenth ,,century ,illustration3 ,,baumgarten ,,tapestry4 ,,modern ,,cartoon ,such then is the simple process of the looms1 far simpler seen than described and yet depending absolutely for its beauty on the talent and patience of gifted workers4 ,it is as simple as the alphabet1 yet as complicated as the dictionary4 ,patient years of apprenticeship must a man spend before he can become a good weaver1 and then must he give the best years of his life to becoming perfect in the craft4 ,but if the work is exacting1 at least it is agreeable1 almost lovable1 and in delightful contrast to the labour of those who but tend machines driven by power4 ,and if the art of tapestry weaving is almost a lost one to-day1 at least the weavers can find in history much matter for pride4 ,it is no mean ambition to follow the profession of conscientious ,nicolas ,bataille1 of the able ,pannemaker1 of ,la ,planche and ,comans1 of ,tessier1 ,cozette1 and a hundred others of family and fame4 ,much preparation is necessary before the loom can be set going4 ,first is the design1 the cartoon4 ,there we are in the department of the artist1 and must talk in whispers4 ,raphael belongs there1 and ,leonardo2 and ,rubens1 ,teniers1 ,lebrun1 ,boucher and ,david1 train us through the past centuries into our own4 ,but the cartoon of to-day is not so sacred a matter1 and we may speak of it frankly--regretfully1 too4 ,cartoons hang all over the walls of the tapestry factory1 so much property for the setting of future scenes1 and besides1 they make a decoration which alone would lift the tapestry factory into the regions of art and class it among ateliers1 instead of factories4 ,the cartoons are painted1 however1 where the artist will1 in his own studio or in one provided for the purpose by the director1 as in the case of the ,baumgarten works4 ,they have the look of special designs4 ,they are not done in the manner of a painting to be hung on a wall4 ,their brushwork is smooth and broad1 dividing lines well distinguished by marked contrasts in colour to make possible their translation into the language of silk and wool4 ,after the cartoon is ready1 comes the warp4 ,that is set with the closeness agreed upon4 ,naturally1 the smaller the thread of the warp1 the closer is it set1 the more threads to the inch1 and thus comes fine fabric4 ,coarser warp means fewer threads to the inch1 quicker work for the weaver and less value to the tapestry4 ,from ten to twenty threads to the inch carries the limits of coarseness and fineness4 ,in fine weaving1 a weaver will accomplish but a square foot a week4 ,think of that1 you who wonder at the price of tapestries ordered for the new drawing-room4 ,the warp comes to the factory all in big hanks of even thread4 ,nowadays it is usually of cotton1 although they contend at the ,gobelins that wool warp is preferable1 for it gives the finished fabric a lightness and flexibility that the heavier1 stiffer cotton destroys4 ,setting the warp is a matter of patience and precision1 and we will leave the workman with it1 to make it the whole length of the tapestry to be woven1 and to fasten the loops of thread around each chaine and to fasten those in turn1 alternating1 to the bar by means of which they may be shifted to make the in-and-out of the weaving4 ,then after choosing the colours1 the weaving begins4 ,it is like nothing so much as a piece of fancy-work4 ,if it were not for the cumbersome loom1 ,i am sure ladies would emulate the king who wove for amusement1 and would make chair-pieces on the summer veranda4 ,but before the silks and wools go to the weaving they are treated to a beauty-bath in the dye-room4 ,hanks of wool and skeins of silk are but neutral matters1 coming to the factory devoid of individuality1 mere pale1 soft bulk4 ,a room apart1 somewhere away from the studio of design and the rooms where the looms stand stolid1 is a laboratory of dyes1 a place which looks like a farmhouse kitchen on preserving day4 ,you sniff the air as you go in1 the air that is swaying long bunches of pendulous colour1 and it smells warm and moist and full of the suggestions of magic4 ,over a big cauldron two men are bending1 stirring a witches' broth to charm man's eye4 ,one of the wooden paddles brings up a mass from the heavy liquid4 ,it is silk1 glistening rich1 of the colour of melted rubies4 ,upstairs the looms are making it into a damask background onto which are thrown the garlands ,boucher drew and ,tessier loved to work4 ,dainties fished up from another cauldron are strung along a line to dry1 soft wool and shining silk1 all in shades of grapes1 of asters1 of heliotropes1 telling their manifest destiny4 ,and beyond1 are great bunches of colour1 red which mounts a quivering scale to salmon pink1 blue which sails into tempered gray1 greens dancing to the note of the forest4 ,it is a nature's workshop1 a laboratory where the rainbow serves1 apprenticed4 ,jars1 stone jars1 little kegs1 all ugly enough1 are standing against the wall4 ,but uncover one1 touch the thick dark stuff within1 and feast your eye on the colour left on a curious finger-tip4 ,you are close to the cochineal1 to indigo1 and all the wonderful alchemy of colour4 ,aniline8 ,not a bit of the treacherous stuff4 ,it takes the eye1 but it is a fickle friend4 ,they say a mordant has been found to stay the flight of its lovely colours4 ,perhaps2 it may be4 ,but what weaver of tapestry would be willing to confide his labour to the care of a dye that has not known the test of ages8 ,aniline dye1 says the director of a tapestry factory1 may last twenty years--but twenty years is nothing in the life of a tapestry4 ,over in ,paris1 at the ,gobelins1 a master rules as chemist of the dyes1 with the dignity of a special laboratory for making them4 ,in ,america1 with no government assuming the expense1 the dyes are bought in such form that only expert dyers can use them in the few factories which exist4 ,but no new hazards are taken4 ,the matter is too serious4 ,economy in dyes brings too great disaster to contemplate4 ,it is only too true that a man1 several men1 may labour a year to produce a perfect work1 and that all the labour may be ruined by an ephemeral dye1 by the escape of tones skilfully laid4 ,let commerce cheat in some other way1 if it must1 but not in this4 ,let the dye be honest1 as enduring as the colours imprisoned in gems4 ,illustration3 ,,baumgarten ,,tapestry4 ,,modern ,,cartoon ,it is a modern economy4 ,the ancients knew not of it1 and were willing to spend any amount on colours4 ,more than that a port1 or a nation1 was willing to rest its fame on a single colour4 ,purple of ,tyre1 red of ,turkey1 yellow of ,china1 are terms familiar through the ages1 and think not these colours were to be had for the asking4 ,they brought prices which we do not pay now even in this age of money4 ,the brothers ,gobelins--their fame originally rested on their ambition to be dyers of scarlet1 that being an ultimate test of skill4 ,it is a serious matter1 that of dyeing wools and silks for tapestries1 and one which the directors conduct within the walls of the tapestry factory4 ,the ,gobelins uses for its reds1 cochineal or the roots of the madder2 for blue1 indigo and ,prussian blue2 for yellow1 the vegetable colour extracted from gaude4 ,in ,america there is a specialist in dyes3 ,miss ,charlotte ,pendleton1 who gives her entire attention to rediscovering the dyes of the ancients1 the dyes that made a city's fame4 ,it is owing to her conscientious work that the tapestry repairers of museums can find appropriate threads4 ,it is interesting to trace the differing gamut of colour through the ages4 ,old dyes produced1 old weavers needed1 but twenty tones for the old work4 ,tapestries of the ,fourteenth and ,fifteenth ,centuries were as simple in scale as stained glass1 and as honest4 ,flesh tints were neutral by contrast to the splendid reds1 honest yellows and rich greens4 ,colours meant something1 then1 too2 had a sentimental language all their own4 ,when white predominated1 purity was implied2 black was mortification of the flesh2 livid yellow was tribulation2 red1 charity2 green1 meditation4 ,an examination of the colours in the series which depicts the life of ,louis ,,xiv1 reveals a use of but seventy-nine colours4 ,so up to that time1 great honesty of dye1 and fine decorative effect were preserved4 ,the shades were produced by two little tricks open as the day1 hatching being one1 the other1 winding two shades on the same broche or shuttle4 ,hatching1 as we know1 is merely a penman's trick1 of shading with lines of light and dark4 ,it was when they began to paint the lily1 in the days of pretty corruption1 that the whole matter of dyeing changed4 ,in the ,eighteenth ,century when the ,regent ,philip1 and then ,la ,pompadour1 set the mode1 things greatly altered4 ,when big decorative effects were no more1 the stimulating effect of deep strong colour was considered vulgar1 and1 only the suave sweetness of ,boucher1 ,nattier1 ,fragonard1 were admired4 ,every one played a pretty part1 all life was a theatre of gay comedy1 or a flattered miniature4 ,so1 as we have seen1 new times and new modes caused the ,gobelins to copy paintings instead of to interpret cartoons--and there lay the destruction of their art4 ,instead of four-score tones1 the dyers hung on their lines tens and tens of thousands4 ,and the weavers wove them all into their fabric-painting1 with the result that when the light lay on them long1 the delicate shades faded and with them was lost the meaning of the design4 ,and that is why the ,gobelins of the older time are worth more as decoration than those of the later4 ,we are doing a little better nowadays4 ,there is a limit to the tones1 and in all new work a decided tendency to abandon the copying of brush-shading in favour of a more restricted gamut of colour4 ,by this means the future worker may regain the lost charm of the simple old pieces of work4 ,another room in the factory of tapestry interests those who like to see the creation of things4 ,it is one of the prettiest rooms of all1 and is more than ever like a kindergarten for grown-ups4 ,or1 if you like1 it is a chamber in a feudal castle where the women gather when the men are gone to war4 ,here the workers are all girls and women1 each bending over a large embroidery frame supported at a convenient level from the floor4 ,on one frame is a long flowered border with cartouches in the strong rich colours of ,louis ,,xiv4 ,on another a sofa-seat copied from ,boucher4 ,they are both new1 but like all work fresh from the loom are full of the open slits left in the process of weaving1 a necessity of the changing colours and the requirements of the drawing4 ,all these little slits1 varying from half an inch to several inches in length1 must be sewed with strong1 careful stitches before the tapestry can be considered complete4 ,on other frames are stretched old tapestries for repairs4 ,at the ,gobelins as many as forty women are thus employed4 ,the malapropos deduction springs here that the demand for repaired old work is greater than that for new in the famous factory1 for only six or eight weavers are there occupied4 ,repairing is almost an art in itself4 ,the emperor established a small school at ,berlin for training girls in this trade4 ,the studio of the late ,mr4 ,ffoulke in ,florence kept twenty or thirty girls occupied4 ,the ,metropolitan ,museum of ,art in ,new ,york has a repair studio under a graduate of the ,berlin school4 ,the factories of ,baumgarten and of ,herter1 in ,new ,york1 also conduct repairs2 and the museum at ,boston as well4 ,we cannot make old tapestries1 but we can restore and preserve them by skilled labour in special ateliers4 ,restoration by the needle is the only perfect restoration1 and this is as yet but little done here1 although the method is so well known in ,europe4 ,we deplore the quicker way1 to use the loom for weaving large sections of border or large bits which have gone into hopeless shreds1 or have disappeared altogether by reason of the bitter years when tapestries had fallen into neglect4 ,but the quicker way is the poorer1 with these great claimants for time4 ,the woven figures are relentless in this1 that they claim of the living man a lion's share of his precious days4 ,his reward is that they outlast him4 ,food for cynics lies there4 ,the careful worker looks close and sees the warp exposed like fiddle strings here and there4 ,she matches the colour of silk and wool to the elusive shades and covers stitch by stitch the bare threads1 in perfect imitation of the loom's way4 ,sometimes the warp is gone4 ,then the work tests the best skill4 ,the threads1 the chaine1 must be picked up1 one by one1 and united invisibly to the new1 and then the pattern woven over with the needle4 ,it happens that large holes remain to be filled entirely1 the pattern matched1 the design caught or imagined from some other part of the fabric4 ,that takes skill indeed4 ,but it is done1 and so well1 that the repairer is called not that1 but a restorer4 ,the two factories in ,new ,york1 the ,baumgarten and ,herter ateliers1 have certain employes always busy with repairs and restorations4 ,given even a fragment1 the rest is supplied to make a perfect whole1 in these studios where the manner of the old workers is so closely studied4 ,for big repairs a drawing is made1 a cartoon on the same principle as that of large cartoons1 in colours1 these following the old4 ,then it remains for the weaver to set his loom with the corresponding number of threads1 that the new fabric may match the old in fineness4 ,then1 too1 comes the test of matching colours1 a test that almost never discovers a worker equal to its exactions4 ,that is as often as not the fault of the dyer who has supplied colours too fresh4 ,it is the repairs done by the needle that give the best effect1 although such restorations are costly and slow4 ,old repairs on old tapestries have been made1 in some instances1 very long ago4 ,it often happens1 in old sets1 that a great piece of another tapestry has been roughly set in1 like the knee-patches of a farm boy4 ,the object has been merely to fill the hole1 not to match colour scheme or figure4 ,and these patches are by the judicious restorer taken out and their place carefully filled with the needle4 ,moths1 say some1 do not devour old tapestries4 ,the reason given is that the ancient wool is so desiccated as to be no longer nutritious4 ,a pretty argument1 but not to be trusted1 for ,i have seen moths comfortably browsing on a ,burgundian hanging1 keeping house and raising families on such precious stuff4 ,commerce demands that tricks shall be played in the repair room1 but not such great ones that serious corruption will result4 ,the coarse verdures of the ,eighteenth ,century that were thrown lightly off the looms with transient interest are sought now for coverings to antique chairs4 ,to give the unbroken greens more charm1 an occasional bird is snipped from a worn branch where he has long and mutely reposed1 and is posed anew on the centre of a back or seat4 ,it is the part of the repairer to see that he looks at home in his new surroundings4 ,if metal threads have not been spoken of in this chapter on modus operandi1 it is because metal is so little used since the time of ,louis ,,xv as to warrant omitting it4 ,and the little that appears seems very different from the gold of ,cyprus that made gorgeous and valuable the tapestries of ,arras1 of ,brussels and of old ,paris4 ,,chapter ,,xxiii ,,the ,,bayeux ,,tapestry ,a4 ,d4 #ajff ,so long as one word continues to have more than one meaning1 civilised man will continue to gain false impressions4 ,the word tapestry suffers as much as any other--witness the attempt made for hundreds of years among all nations to set apart a word that shall be used only to designate the hand-woven pictured hangings and coverings discussed in this book2 arras1 gobelins1 toile peinte1 etc4 ,in ,english1 tapestry may mean almost any decorative stuff1 and so comes it that we speak of the wonderful hanging which gives name to this chapter as the tapestry of ,bayeux 7plates facing pages #bdb1 #bdc and #bdd71 when it is in reality an embroidery4 ,but so much is it confused with true tapestry1 and so poignantly does it interest the ,anglo-,saxon that we will introduce it here1 even while acknowledging its extraneous character4 ,to begin with1 then1 we say frankly that it is not a tapestry2 that it has no place in this book4 ,and then we will trail its length through a short review of its history and its interest as a human document of the first order4 ,in itself it is a strip of holland--brown1 heavy linen cloth1 measuring in length about two hundred and thirty-one feet1 and in width1 nineteen and two-thirds inches--remarkable dimensions which are accounted for in the neatest way4 ,the hanging was used in the cathedral of the little ,french city of ,bayeux1 draped entirely around the nave of the ,norman ,cathedral1 which space it exactly covered4 ,this indicates to archeologists the original purpose of the hanging4 ,on the brown linen is embroidered in coloured wools a panoramic succession of incidents1 with border top and bottom4 ,the colours are but eight1 two shades each of green and blue1 with yellow1 dove-colour1 red and brown4 ,this1 in brief1 is the great ,bayeux tapestry4 ,but its threads breathe history2 its stitches sing romance2 and we who love to touch humorously the spirits of brothers who lived so long ago1 find here the matter that humanly unites the ,eleventh ,century with the ,twentieth4 ,the subject is the conquest of ,england by ,william the ,conqueror in #ajff4 ,that is fixed beyond a doubt1 so that the precious cloth cannot trail its ends any further back into antiquity than that event4 ,however1 even the most insatiable antiquarian of ,european specialties is smilingly content with such a date4 ,legend has it that ,queen ,matilda1 the wife of the conqueror1 executed the work as an evidence of the devotion and adulation that were his due and her pleasure3 ,there are lovely pictures in the mind of ,matilda in the safety of the chambers of the old castle at ,caen1 directing each day a corps of lovely ladies in the task of their historic embroidery1 each one sewing into the fabric her own secret thoughts of lover or husband absent on the great ,conqueror's business4 ,in absence of direct testimony to the contrary1 why not let us believe this which comes as near truth as any legend may1 and fits the case most pleasantly8 ,illustration3 ,,bayeux ,,tapestry 7,,detail71 #ajff ,illustration3 ,,bayeux ,,tapestry 7,,detail71 #ajff ,the history it portrays in all its seventy-odd yards is easy enough to verify4 ,that is like working out a puzzle with the key in hand4 ,but the history of this keenly interesting embroidery is not so easy4 ,the records are niggardly4 ,inventories record it in #acfi and #adgf4 ,in an inventory of the ,bishop of ,bayeux it is mentioned in #aefc4 ,about this time it was in ecclesiastical hands and used for decorating the nave of the ,bayeux ,cathedral4 ,then the world forgot it4 ,how the world rediscovered that which was never lost is interesting matter4 ,here is the story3 ,in #agbd an antiquarian found a drawing of about ten yards long1 taken from the tapestry4 ,here1 said he and his fellow sages1 is the drawing of some wonderful1 ancient work of art1 most probably a frieze or other decoration carved in wood or stone4 ,naturally1 the desire was to find such a monument4 ,but no one could remember such a carving in any church or castle4 ,father ,montfaucon1 of ,saint ,maur1 with interest intelligent1 wrote to the prior of ,st4 ,vigor's at ,bayeux1 and received the most satisfactory reply1 that the drawing represented not a carving but a hanging in possession of his church1 and associated with many yards more of the same cloth4 ,so all this time the wonderful relic had lain safe in ,bayeux1 and never was lost1 but only forgotten by outsiders4 ,the rediscovery1 so-called1 aroused much comment1 and ,england declared the cloth the noblest monument of her history4 ,it was in use at that time1 and after1 once a year4 ,it was hung around the cathedral nave on ,st4 ,john's ,day1 and left for eight days that all the people might see it4 ,the fact that it was not religious in subject1 that it could not possibly be interpreted otherwise than as a secular history1 makes remarkable its place in the cathedral4 ,this is explained by the suggestion that while ,bishop ,odo established that precedent1 all others but followed without thought4 ,since #agbd the world outside of ,bayeux has never forgotten this panorama of a past age1 and its history is known from that time on4 ,the ,revolution of ,france had its effect even on this treasure2 or would have had if the clergy had not been sufficiently capable to defend it4 ,it was hidden in the depositories of the cathedral until the storm was over4 ,it seems there was no treasure in ,europe unknown to ,napoleon4 ,he commanded in #ahjc that the ,bayeux tapestry1 of which he had heard so much1 be brought to the ,national ,museum for his inspection4 ,the playwrights of ,paris seized on the pictured cloth as material for their imagination1 and1 refusing to take seriously the crude figures1 wrote humorously of ,matilda eternally at work over her ridiculous task1 surrounded with simple ladies equally blind to art and nature4 ,it is only too easy to let humour play about the ill-drawn figures4 ,they must be taken grandly serious1 or ridicule will thrust tongue in cheek4 ,it is to these ,french plays of #ahjd that we owe the firmness of the tradition that ,queen ,matilda in #ajff worked the embroidery4 ,illustration3 ,,bayeux ,,tapestry 7,,detail71 #ajff ,napoleon returned the cloth to ,bayeux1 not to the church1 but to the ,hotel de ,ville1 in which manner it became the property of the civil authorities1 instead of the ecclesiastic4 ,it was rolled on cylinders1 that by an easy mechanism it might be seen by visitors4 ,but the fabric suffered much by the handling of a curious public4 ,even the most enlightened and considerate hands can break threads which time has played with for eight centuries4 ,it was decided1 therefore1 to give the ancient toile fatiguee a quiet1 permanent home4 ,for this purpose a museum was built1 and about #ahce the great ,bayeux tapestry was carefully installed behind glass1 its full length extended on the walls for all to see who journey thither and who ring the guardian's bell at the courtyard's handsome portico4 ,once since then1 once only1 has the venerable fabric left its cabinet4 ,this was at the time of the ,prussians when1 in #ahga1 ,france trembled for even her most intimate and special treasures4 ,the tapestry was taken from its case1 rolled with care and placed in a zinc cylinder1 hermetically sealed4 ,then it was placed far from harm2 but exactly where1 is a secret that the guardians of the tapestry do well to conserve4 ,there might be another trouble1 and asylum needed for the treasure in the future4 ,the pictures of the great embroidery are such as a child might draw1 for crudeness2 but the archeologist knows how to read into them a thousand vital points4 ,history helps out1 too1 with the story of ,harold1 moustached like the proper ,englishman of to-day1 taking a commission from ,william1 riding gaily out on a gentleman's errand1 not a warrior's4 ,this is shown by the falcon on his wrist1 that wonderful bird of the ,middle ,ages that marked the gentleman by his associations1 marked the high-born man on an errand of peace or pleasure4 ,in these travelling days1 no sooner do we land in ,normandy than ,mount ,st4 ,michael looms up as a happy pilgrimage4 ,so to the same religious refuge ,harold went on the pictured cloth1 crossed the adjacent river in peril1 and--how pleasingly does the past leap up and tap the present--he floundered in the quicksands that surround the ,mount1 and about which the driver of your carriage across the passerelle will tell you recent tales of similar flounderings4 ,and when in ,brittany1 who does not go to tumbley-down ,dinan to see its ancient gates and walls1 its palaces of ,queen ,anne1 its lurching crowd of houses8 ,it is thither that ,harold1 made of threads of ancient wool1 sped and gave battle after the manner of his time4 ,another link to make us love this relic of the olden time3 ,it is the star1 the star so great that the space of the picture is all too small to place it2 so the excited hands of the embroiderers set it outside the limit1 in the border4 ,it flames over false ,harold's head and he remembers sombrely that it is an omen of a change of rule4 ,he is king now1 has usurped a throne1 has had himself crowned4 ,but for how long is he monarch1 with this flaming menace burning into his courage8 ,the year finishing saw the prophecy fulfilled by the coming of the conqueror4 ,it was this section of the tapestry that1 when it came to ,paris1 had power to startle ,napoleon1 ever superstitious1 ever ready to read signs4 ,the star over ,harold's head reminded him of the possible brevity of his own eminence4 ,the star that blazed in #ajff--we have found it4 ,it was not imaginary4 ,behold how prettily the bits of history fit together1 even though we go far afield to find those bits4 ,this one comes from ,china4 ,records were better kept there in those times than in ,christian ,europe2 and the ,chinese astronomers write of a star appearing ,april #b1 #ajff1 which was seen first in the early morning sky1 then after a time disappeared to reappear in the evening sky1 with a flaming tail1 most agreeably sensational4 ,it was ,halley's comet1 the same that we watched in #aiaj with no superstitious fear at all for princes nor for powers4 ,but it is interesting to know that our modern comet was recorded in ,china in the ,eleventh ,century1 and has its portrait on the ,bayeux tapestry1 and that it frightened the great ,harold into a fit of guilty conscience4 ,the archeologist gives reason for the faith that is in him concerning the ,bayeux tapestry by reading the language of its details1 such as the style of arms used by its preposterous soldiers2 by gestures2 by groupings of its figures2 and we are only too glad to believe his wondrous deductions4 ,there are in all fifteen hundred and twelve figures in this celebrated cloth1 if one includes birds1 beasts1 boats1 et cetera1 with the men2 and amidst all this elongated crowd is but one woman4 ,queen ,matilda1 left at home for months1 immured with her ladies1 probably had quite enough of women to refrain easily from portraying them4 ,needless to say1 this one embroidered lady interests poignantly the archeologist4 ,most of the animals are in the border--active little beasts who make a running accompaniment to the tale they adorn4 ,this excepts the very wonderful horses ridden by knights of action4 ,scenes of the pictured history of ,william's conquest are divided one from the other by trees4 ,possibly the archeologist sees in these evidences of extinct varieties1 for not in all this round1 green world do trees grow like unto those of the ,bayeux tapestry4 ,they are dream trees from the gardens of the ,hesperides1 and set in useful decoration to divide event from event and to give sensations to the student of the tree in ornament4 ,such is the ,bayeux tapestry1 which1 as was conscientiously forewarned1 is not a tapestry at all1 but the most interesting embroidery of ,europe4 ,,chapter ,,xxiv ,,to-,,day ,the making of inspired tapestry does not belong to to-day4 ,the amour propre suffers a distinct pain in this acknowledgment4 ,it were far more agreeable to foster the feeling that this age is in advance of any other1 that we are at the front of the world's progress4 ,so we are in many matters1 but those matters are all bent toward one thing--making haste4 ,economy of time occupies the attention of scientist1 inventor1 labourer4 ,yet a lavish expenditure of time is the one thing the perfect tapestry inexorably demands1 and that is the fundamental reason why it cannot now enter a brilliant period of production like those of the past4 ,it is not that one atelier cannot find enough weavers to devote their lives to sober1 leisurely production2 it is that the stimulating effect is gone1 of a craft eagerly pursued in various centres1 where guilds may be formed1 where healthy rivalry spurs to excellence1 where the world of the fine arts is also vitally concerned4 ,the great hangings of the past were the natural expression of decoration in those days1 the natural demand of pomp1 of splendour and of comfort4 ,as in all things great and small1 the act is but the visible expression of an inward impulse1 and we of to-day have not the spirit that expresses itself in the reverent building of cathedrals1 or in the inspired composition of tapestries4 ,this is to be entirely distinguished from appreciation4 ,that gift we have1 and it is momentarily increasing4 ,to be entirely commercial1 which view is of course not the right one1 one need only watch the reports of sales at home and abroad to see what this latter-day appreciation means in pelf4 ,in ,england a tapestry was recently unearthed and identified as one of the series of seven woven for ,cardinal ,woolsey4 ,it is not of extraordinary size1 but was woven in the interesting years hovering above and below the century mark of #aejj4 ,the time was when public favour spoke for the upholding of morality with a conspicuousness which could be called ,puritanism1 were the anachronism possible4 ,pointing a moral was the fundamental excuse for pictorial art4 ,this tapestry represents one of ,the ,seven ,deadly ,sins4 ,hampton ,court displays the three other known pieces of the series1 and he who harbours this most recent discovery has paid #cc1jjj for the privilege4 ,but that is a tiny sum compared to the price that rumour accredits ,mr4 ,morgan with paying for ,the ,adoration of the ,eternal ,father 7called also ,the ,kingdom of ,heaven74 ,and this is topped by #gej1jjj paid for a ,boucher set of five pieces4 ,one might continue to enumerate the sales where enormous sums are laid down in appreciation of the men whose excellence of work we cannot achieve1 but these sums paid only show with pathetic discouragement the completeness with which the spirit of commercialism has replaced the spirit of art1 at least in the expression of art that occupies our attention4 ,illustration3 ,,modern ,,american ,,tapestry1 ,,louis ,,xv ,,inspiration ,illustration3 ,,modern ,,american ,,tapestry ,,from ,,french ,,inspiration ,if1 then1 this is not an age of production1 but of appreciation1 it1 too1 has its natural expression4 ,first it is the acquiring at any sacrifice of the ancient hangings wherever they are found2 and after that it is their restoration and preservation4 ,this is the reason for recent high prices and the reason1 too1 for the establishment of ateliers of repair1 which are found in all large centres in ,europe as well as wherever any important museum exists in ,america4 ,it would not be possible nor profitable to dwell on the tapestry repair shops of ,europe4 ,they have always been2 the industry is one that has existed since the ,burgundian dukes tore holes in their magnificent tapestries by dragging them over the face of ,europe1 and since ,henry the ,eighth1 in eager imitation of the continentals1 established in the royal household a supervisor of tapestry repairs4 ,paris is full of repairers1 and in the little streets on the other side of the ,seine old women sit in doorways on a sunny day1 defeating the efforts of time to destroy the loved toiles peintes4 ,but this haphazard repair1 done on the knee1 as a garment might be mended1 is not comparable to the careful1 exact work of the restorer at her frame4 ,one ranks as woman's natural task of nine stitches1 while the other is the work of intelligent patience and skilled endeavour4 ,wherever looms are set up1 a department of repair is the logical accompaniment4 ,as every tapestry taken from the loom appears punctured with tiny slits1 places left open in the weaving1 and as all of these need careful sewing before the tapestry is finished1 a corps of needlewomen is a part of a loom's equipment4 ,this is true in all but the ateliers of the ,merton ,abbey factory1 of which we shall speak later4 ,apart from repairs1 what is being done in the present day8 ,so little that historians of the future are going to find scant pickings for their record4 ,,france ,the ,gobelins factory being the last one to make a permanent contribution to art1 the impulse is to ask what it is doing now4 ,that is easily answered1 but there is no man so optimistic that he can find therein matter for hope4 ,france is commendably determined not to let the great industry die4 ,it would seem a loss of ancient glory to shut down the ,gobelins4 ,yet why does it live8 ,it lives because a body of men have the patriotic pride to keep it alive4 ,but as for its products1 they are without inspiration1 without beauty to the eye trained to higher expressions of art4 ,the ,gobelins to-day is almost purely a museum1 not only in the treasures it exposes in its collection of ancient toiles1 but because here is preserved the use of the high-warp loom1 and the same method of manufacture as in other and better times4 ,a crowd of interested folk drift in and out between the portals1 survey the ,pavilion of ,louis ,,xiv and the court1 the garden and the stream1 then1 turning inside1 the modern surveys the work of the ancient1 the remnants of time4 ,and no less curious and no less remote do the old tapestries seem than the atelier where the high looms rear their cylinders and mute men play their colour harmonies on the warp4 ,it all seems of other times2 it all seems dead4 ,and it is a dead art4 ,illustration3 ,,gobelins ,,tapestry4 ,,late ,,nineteenth ,,century ,luxembourg1 ,paris ,illustration3 ,,gobelins ,,tapestry4 ,,late ,,nineteenth ,,century ,pantheon1 ,paris ,the tapestries on the looms are garish1 crude1 modern art in its cheapest expression2 or else they are brilliant-hued copies of time-softened paintings that were never meant to be translated into wool and silk4 ,the looms are always busy1 nevertheless4 ,there is always preserved a staff of officers1 the director1 the chemist of dyes1 and all that2 and the tapissiers are careful workmen1 with perfection1 not haste1 in view4 ,the ,state directs the work1 the ,state pays for it1 the ,state consumes the products4 ,that is the ,republic's way of continuing the craft that was the serious pleasure of kings4 ,but there is now no personal element to give it the vital touch4 ,there is no ,gabrielle d',estrees1 nor ,henri ,,iv2 no ,medici1 no ,louis ,,xiv1 no ,pompadour4 ,all is impersonal1 uninspired4 ,men who have worked in the deadening influence of the ,gobelins declare that the factory cannot last much longer4 ,but it is improbable that ,france--,republican ,france1 that holds with bourgeois tenacity to aristocratic evidences--will abandon this1 her expensive toy1 her inheritance of the time of kings4 ,in the time of the ,second ,empire it was the fashion to copy1 at the ,gobelins1 the portraits of celebrated personages executed by ,winterhalter4 ,the exquisite portrait of the beautiful ,empress ,eugenie by this delectable court painter has a delicacy and grace that is all unhurt by contrast with more modern schools of painting4 ,but fancy the texture of the lovely flesh copied in the medium of woven threads1 no matter how delicately dyed and skilfully wrought4 ,painting is one art1 tapestry-making is entirely another4 ,but that is just where the fault lay and continued1 the inability of the ,gobelins ateliers to understand that the two must not be confused4 ,the same false idea that caused ,winterhalter's portraits to be copied1 gave to the modern tapissiers the paintings of the high ,renaissance to reproduce4 ,titian's most celebrated works were set up on the loom1 as for example the beautiful fancy known as ,sacred and ,profane ,love1 which perplexes the loiterer of to-day in the ,villa ,borghese4 ,other paintings copied were ,raphael's ,transfiguration1 ,guido ,rene's ,aurora1 ,andrea del ,sarto's ,charity4 ,there were many more1 but this list gives sufficiently well the condition of inspiration at the ,gobelins up to the third quarter of the ,nineteenth ,century4 ,paul ,baudry appeared at about this time striking a clear pure note of delicate decoration4 ,the few panels that he drew for the ,gobelins charm the eye with happy reminiscences of ,lebrun1 of ,claude ,audran1 a potpourri of petals fallen from the roses of yesterday mixed with the spices of to-day4 ,but if the work of this talented artist illustrates anything1 it is the change in the uses of tapestries4 ,the modern ones are made to be framed1 as flat as the wall against which they are secured4 ,in a word1 they take the place of frescoes4 ,the pleasure of touching a mobile fabric is lost4 ,a fold in such a dainty piece would break its beauty4 ,almost must a woven panel of our day fit the panel it fills as exactly as the wood-work of a room fits its dimensions4 ,the ,nineteenth ,century at the ,gobelins was finished by mistakenly copying ,ghirlandajo1 ,correggio1 others of their time4 ,in the beginning of this century1 the spirit of pure decoration again became animated4 ,instead of copying old painters1 the ,gobelins began to copy old cartoons4 ,the effect of this is to increase the responsibility of the weaver1 and with responsibility comes strength4 ,the models of ,boucher1 and the ,grotesques of ,italian ,renaissance drawing are given even now to the weavers as a training in both taste and skill4 ,but better than all is the present wisdom of the ,gobelins1 which has directly faced the fact that it were better to copy the tapestries of old excellence than to copy paintings of no matter what altitude of art4 ,modern cartoons are used1 as we know1 commanded for various public buildings in ,france1 but the copying of old tapestries exercises a far happier influence on the weavers4 ,if this is not an age of creation in art1 at least it need not be an age of false gods1 notwithstanding the seriousness given to distortions of the ,matisse and post-impressionist school4 ,a careful copying of old tapestries--and in this case old means those of the high periods of perfection--has led to a result from which much may be expected4 ,this is the enormous reduction in the number of tones used4 ,gothic tapestries of stained glass effect had a restricted range of colour4 ,by this brief gamut the weaver made his own gradations of colour1 and the passage from light to shadow1 by hatching1 which was in effect but a weaving of alternating lines of two colours1 much as an artist in pen-and-ink draws parallel lines for shading4 ,tapestries thus woven resist well the attacks of light and time4 ,to sum up the present attitude of the ,gobelins1 then1 is to say that the director of to-day encourages the education of taste in the weavers by encouraging them to copy old tapestries instead of paintings old or new1 and in a reduction of the number of the tones employed4 ,the talent of an artist is thus made necessary to the tapissier1 for shadings are left to him to accomplish by his own skill instead of by recourse to the forty thousand shades that are stored on the shelves of the store-room4 ,the manufactory at ,beauvais1 being also under the ,state1 is associated with the greater factory in the glance at modern conditions4 ,both factories weave primarily for the ,state4 ,both factories keep alive an ancient industry1 and both have permission to sell their precious wares to the private client4 ,that such sales are rarely made is due to the indifference of the ,state1 which stipulates that its own work shall have first place on the looms1 that only when a loom is idle may it be used for a private patron4 ,the length of time1 therefore1 that must elapse before an order is executed--two or three years1 perhaps--is a tiresome condition that very few will accept4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,adoration ,merton ,abbey ,tapestry4 ,figures by ,burne-,jones ,illustration3 ,,david ,,instructing ,,solomon ,,in ,,the ,,building ,,of ,,the ,,temple ,merton ,abbey ,tapestry4 ,burne-,jones1 ,artist ,beauvais1 with its low-warp looms1 is more celebrated for its small pieces of work than for large hangings4 ,the tendency toward the latter ended some time ago1 and in our time ,beauvais makes mainly those exquisite coverings for seats and screens that give the beholder a thrill of artistic joy and a determination to possess something similar4 ,the models of ,behagle1 ,oudry1 ,charron are copied with fidelity to their loveliness1 and it is these that after a few years of wear on furniture take on that mellowness which long association with human hands alone can give4 ,it is scarcely necessary to say that antique furniture tapestry is rare2 its use has been too hard to withstand the years4 ,therefore1 we may with joy and the complacency of good taste acquire new coverings of the ,don ,quixote or ,a,esop's ,fables designs for our latter-day furniture or for the fine old pieces from which the original tapestries have vanished4 ,,england ,the chapter on ,mortlake looms shows what was accomplished by deliberate importation of an art coveted but not indigenous4 ,it is interesting to compare this with ,england's entirely modern and self-made craft of the last thirty years4 ,i allude to the tapestry factory established by ,william ,morris and called ,merton ,abbey4 ,mr4 ,morris preferred the word arras as attached to his weavings1 tapestry having sometimes the odious modern meaning of machine-made figured stuffs for any sort of furniture covering4 ,but as ,arras did not invent the high-warp hand-loom1 nor did the ,saracens1 nor the ,egyptians1 it is but quibbling to give it arbitrarily the name of any particular locale4 ,it seems that enough can never be said about the versatility of ,william ,morris and the strong flood of beauty in design that he sent rippling over arid ground4 ,it were enough had he accomplished only the work in tapestry4 ,it is not too strong a statement that he produced at ,merton ,abbey the only modern tapestries that fill the primary requirements of tapestries4 ,how did he happen upon it in these latter days8 ,by worshipping the old hangings of the ,gothic perfection1 by finding the very soul of them1 of their designers and of their craftsmen2 then1 letting that soul enter his1 he set his fingers reverently to work to learn1 as well1 the secret of the ancient workman4 ,it was as early as #ahhe that he began2 was cartoonist1 dyer1 tapissier1 all1 for the experiment1 which was a small square of verdure after the manner of the ,gothic1 curling big acanthus leaves about a softened rose1 a mingling of greens of ocean and shady reds4 ,perhaps it was no great matter in the way of tapestry1 but it was to ,morris like the discovery of a new continent to the navigator4 ,his was the time of a so-called aesthetic school in ,england4 ,watts1 ,rossetti and ,burne-,jones were harking back to antiquity for inspiration4 ,morris associated with him the latter1 who drew wondrous figures of maids and men and angels1 figures filled with the devout spirit of the time when religion was paramount1 and perfect with the art of to-day4 ,the romance of ,the ,holy ,grail gave happy theme for the work1 and three beautiful tapestries made the set4 ,the ,adoration of the ,magi was another1 made for ,exeter ,college1 ,oxford4 ,sir ,edward ,burne-,jones designed all these wondrous pictures1 and the wisdom of ,morris decreed that the ,grail series should not be oft repeated4 ,the first figure tapestry woven on the looms was a fancy drawn by ,walter ,crane1 called ,the ,goose ,girl4 ,illustration3 ,,truth ,,blindfolded ,merton ,abbey ,tapestry4 ,byram ,shaw1 ,artist ,the most enchantingly mediaeval and most modernly perfect piece is by ,burne-,jones1 called ,david ,instructing ,solomon in the ,building of the ,temple4 7,plate facing page #beg47 ,in this the time of ,gothic beauty lives again4 ,planes are repeated1 figures are massed1 detail is clear and impressive1 yet modern laws of drawing concentrate the interest on the central action as strongly as though all else were subservient4 ,the ,passing of ,venus was ,burne-,jones' last cartoon for ,merton ,abbey looms4 7,plate facing page #bfj47 ,although a critique of the art of this great painter would be out of place in a book on the applied arts1 at least it is allowable to express the conviction that more beautiful1 more fitting designs for tapestry it would be difficult to imagine4 ,modern work of this sort has produced nothing that approaches them1 preserving as they do the sincerity and reverence of a simple people1 the ideality of a conscientious age1 yet softening all technical faults with modern finish4 ,an unhappy fact is that this tapestry1 which was considered by the ,merton ,abbey works as its chef d'oeuvre1 was destroyed by fire in the ,brussels ,exhibition of #aiaj4 ,alas for tapestry weaving of to-day1 the usual modern cartoon is a staring anachronism1 and a conglomerate of modes4 ,an art nouveau lady poses in a ,gothic setting1 a ,thayer angel stands in a ,boucher entourage1 and both eye and intelligence are revolted4 ,the master craftsman and artist1 ,william ,morris1 alone has known how to produce acceptable modern work from modern cartoons4 ,other examples are ,angeli ,laudantes1 and ,the ,adoration4 7,plates facing pages #bfa and #bef47 ,a false note is sometimes struck1 even in this factory of wondrous taste4 ,in ,truth ,blindfolded 7plate facing page #beh71 ,mr4 ,byram ,shaw has drawn the central figure as ,cabanel might have done a decade ago1 while every other figure in the group might have been done by some hand dead these four hundred years4 ,morris' manner of procedure differed little from that of the decorator ,lebrun1 although his work was a private enterprise and in no way to be compared with the royal factory of a rich king4 ,burne-,jones drew the figures2 ,h4 ,dearle1 a pupil1 and ,philip ,webb drew backgrounds and animals1 but ,morris held in his own hands the arrangement of all4 ,it was as though a gardener brought in a sheaf of cut roses and the master hand arranged them4 ,mr4 ,dearle directed some compositions with skill and talent4 ,with the passing of ,william ,morris an inevitable change is visible in the cartoons4 ,the ,gothic note is not continued1 nor the atmosphere of sanctity1 which is its usual accompaniment4 ,a tapestry of #aijh from the design of ,the ,chace by ,heyward ,sumner suggests long hours with the ,flemish landscapists of the ,seventeenth and ,eighteenth ,centuries1 with a jarring note of ,pan dragged in by the ears to huddle under foliage obviously introduced for this purpose4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,passing ,,of ,,venus ,merton ,abbey ,tapestry4 ,cartoon by ,burne-,jones ,illustration3 ,,angeli ,,laudantes ,merton ,abbey ,tapestry ,but criticism of this aberration cannot hurt the wondrous inspired work directed by ,morris1 and which it were well for a beauty-loving world to have often repeated4 ,unhappily1 the ,merton ,abbey works are bound not to repeat the superb series of the ,grail4 ,the entire set has been woven twice1 and three pieces of it a third time--and there it ends4 ,this is well for the value of the tapestries1 but is it not a providence too thrifty when the public is considered8 ,in ages to come1 perhaps1 other looms will repeat1 and our times will glow with the fame thereof4 ,before leaving the subject of the ,merton ,abbey tapestries1 it is interesting to note a technical change in the weaving4 ,by intertwisting the threads of the chain or warp at the back1 a way is found to avoid the slits in weaving that are left to be sewn together with the needle in all old work4 ,this method has been proved the stronger of the two4 ,the strain of hanging proves too great for the strength of the stitches1 and on many a tapestry appear gaping wounds which call for yet more stitching4 ,but in the new method the fabric leaves the loom intact4 ,the determination of ,william ,morris to catch old secrets by fitting his feet into old footsteps1 led him to employ only the loom of the best weavers in the ancient long ago4 ,the high-warp loom is the only one in use at the ,merton ,abbey works4 ,,america ,america makes heavy demands for tapestries1 but the art of producing them is not indigenous here4 ,we are not without looms1 however4 ,the first piece of tapestry woven in ,america--to please the ethnologist we will grant that it was woven by ,zuni or ,toltec or other aborigine4 ,but the fabric approaching that of ,arras or ,gobelins1 was woven in ,new ,york1 in #ahic1 in the looms of the late ,william ,baumgarten4 ,it is preserved as a curiosity1 as being the first4 ,it is a chair seat woven after the designs popular with ,louis ,,xv and his court1 a plain background of solid colour on which is thrown a floral ornament4 ,the loom was a small affair of the low-warp type1 and was operated by a ,frenchman who came to this country for the purpose of starting the craft on new soil4 ,the sequence to this small beginning was the establishment of tapestry ateliers at ,williamsbridge1 a suburb of ,new ,york4 ,like the ,gobelins factory1 this was located in an old building on the banks of a little stream1 the ,bronx4 ,workmen were imported1 some from ,aubusson1 who knew the craft2 these took apprentices1 as of old1 and trained them for the work4 ,the looms were all of the low-warp pattern4 ,it may be of interest to those who like figures1 to know that the work of the ,baumgarten atelier averages in price about sixty dollars a square yard4 ,perhaps this will help a little in deciding whether or not the price is reasonable when a dealer seductively spreads his ancient wares4 ,modern cartoons of the ,baumgarten factory lack the charm of the old designs1 but the adaptations and copies of ancient pieces are particularly happy4 ,no better execution could be wished for4 ,the factory has increased its looms to the number of twenty-two1 and has its regular corps of tapissiers1 dyers1 repairers1 etc4 ,nowhere is the life of the weaver so nearly like that of his prototype in the golden age of tapestry4 ,the colony on the ,bronx is like a bit of old ,europe set intact on ,american soil4 ,illustration3 ,,american 7,,baumgarten7 ,,tapestry ,,copied ,,from ,,the ,,gothic ,illustration3 ,,dryads ,,and ,,fauns ,from ,herter ,looms1 ,new ,york1 #aiaj ,it is odd that ,new ,york should have more tapestry looms at work than has ,paris4 ,the ,baumgarten looms exceed in number the present ,gobelins1 and the ,herter looms add many more4 ,the ateliers of ,albert ,herter are in the busiest part of ,new ,york1 and here are woven by hand many fabrics of varying degrees of excellence4 ,it is not ,mr4 ,herter's intention to produce only fine wall hangings1 but to supply as well floor coverings a la facon de ,perse1 as the ancient documents had it1 and to make it possible for persons of taste1 but not necessarily fortune1 to have hand-woven portieres of artistic value4 ,apart from this commendable aim1 the ,herter looms are also given to making copies of the antique in the finest of weaving1 and to producing certain original pieces expressing the decorative spirit of our day4 ,besides this1 the work is distinguished by certain combinations of antique and modern style that confuse the seeker after purity of style4 ,that the effect is pleasing must be acknowledged as illustrated in the plate showing a tapestry for the country house of ,mrs4 ,e4 ,h4 ,harriman4 7,plate facing page #bfc47 ,it is not easy in a review of tapestry weaving of to-day to find any great encouragement4 ,these are times of commerce more than of art4 ,if art can be made profitable commercially1 well and good4 ,if not1 it starves in a garret along with the artist4 ,if the demand for modern tapestries was large enough1 the art would flourish--perhaps4 ,but it is not a large demand1 for many reasons1 chief among which is the incontrovertible one that the modern work is seldom pleasing4 ,the whole world is occupied with science and commerce1 and art does not create under their influence as in more ideal times4 ,what can the trained eye and the cultivated taste do other than turn back to the products of other days8 ,we have artists in our own country whose qualities would make of them marvellous composers of cartoons4 ,the imagination and execution of ,maxfield ,parrish1 for example1 added to his richness of colouring1 would be translatable in wool under the hands of an artist-weaver4 ,and the designs which take the name of poster and are characterised by strength1 simplicity and few tones1 why would they not give the same crispness of detail that constitutes one of the charms of ,gothic work8 ,perhaps the factories existent in ,america will work out this line of thought1 combine it with honesty of material and labour1 and give us the honour of prominence in an ancient art's revival4 ,,finis ,,best ,,periods ,,and ,,their ,,dates ,,earliest ,,tapestry ,,looms ,prehistoric ,,european ,,early ,,attempts ,twelfth ,to ,fourteenth ,centuries ,,arras ,,and ,,burgundian ,,tapestry ,early ,fifteenth ,century ,,gothic ,,perfection1 ,,flanders ,about ,fifteen ,hundred ,,gothic ,,perfection1 ,,france ,about ,fifteen ,hundred ,,italian ,,factories ,fifteenth ,century ,,raphael ,,cartoons ,,in ,,flanders #aeae-aeai ,,renaissance ,,perfection1 ,,flanders #aeae ,to ,second ,half of ,century ,,brussels ,,mark #aebh ,,flemish ,,decadence ,end of ,sixteenth ,century ,,french ,,rise ,end of ,sixteenth ,century ,,french ,,organisation #aeig1 ,reign of ,henri ,,iv ,,english ,,supremacy1 ,,mortlake ,,established #afai ,,establishment ,,of ,,gobelins #affb1 ,reign of ,louis ,,xiv ,,best ,,heroic ,,period ,,of ,,gobelins ,last ,half of ,seventeenth ,century ,,best ,,decorative ,,period ,,of ,,gobelins ,middle of ,eighteenth ,century ,,decadence ,,of ,,gobelins ,end of ,eighteenth ,century ,,recent ,,times1 ,,england1 ,,wm4 ,,morris ,end of ,nineteenth ,century ,,recent ,,times1 ,,america ,end of ,nineteenth ,century ,,index ,abbot ,robert1 #bj4 ,achilles1 ,story of1 #afi4 ,adelaide1 ,queen1 #bb4 ,adoration of the ,eternal ,father1 ,the1 #ei1 #bej1 #bfj4 ,adoration of the ,magi1 ,the1 #beh4 ,acts of the ,apostles1 #fd1 #hf1 #adg1 #afi1 #aig1 #bje1 #bad1 #bba4 ,alcisthenes1 ,mantle of1 #ai4 ,alexander1 ,history of1 #aae1 #agb1 #aig4 ,alfonso ,,ii 7d',este71 #hc4 ,america1 #bfa-bfd4 ,american interest1 #aj4 ,amorini1 #bji4 ,andrea del ,sarto1 #gc4 ,angeli ,laudantes1 #bfj4 ,angers1 #bi1 #cj4 ,angivillier1 ,count of1 #aca1 #acc1 #acg4 ,annunciation1 ,the1 #fa4 ,antin1 ,duke d'1 #abh1 #acj1 #aca1 #adh4 ,antony and ,cleopatra1 #hj1 #aaj1 #aea1 #ahg1 #baj1 #bbb4 ,apocalypse1 #bc1 #be1 #cj1 #de1 #bag4 ,apprentices1 #e4 ,architectural detail1 #agg-agi4 ,armide1 #acj4 ,arras1 #bh1 #cb1 #cd1 #ch1 #dg1 #dh1 #ea1 #ed1 #ff1 #ij1 #ajf1 #abi1 #afc1 #agf1 #bjc1 #bbi4 ,arazzeria ,medicea1 #hd4 ,artemisia1 #ic1 #id4 ,artois1 #cb1 #cd1 #afc4 ,aubusson1 #aej1 #aeb-aeh4 ,audran1 ,claude1 #abb-abd1 #abf-abh1 #acb4 ,audran1 ,jean1 #ach4 ,aurora1 #bed4 ,babylon1 #ah4 ,bacchiacca1 #gf1 #bbc4 ,backgrounds1 #ahe4 ,baillee des ,roses1 #db1 #agf1 #aha4 ,bajazet1 #ce4 ,barberini1 #hg1 #hh1 #aca1 #bjh4 ,basse lisse1 #c1 #aic1 #bbg4 ,bataille1 ,nicolas1 #bi1 #cj1 #bag4 ,baudry1 ,paul1 #bed4 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,vulcan1 ,story of1 #afi4 ,warp1 #bcb4 ,watteau1 ,andre1 #abf1 #ahh4 ,wauters1 #hg4 ,weave1 #aid-aif4 ,weavers1 #e4 ,webb1 ,philip1 #bfj4 ,william the ,conqueror1 #bdb4 ,williamsbridge1 #bfb4 ,winterhalter1 #bec4 ,woolsey1 ,cardinal1 #bej4 ,zegre1 ,jean1 #ajc4 ,transcriber's ,note ,minor typographic errors of spelling1 punctuation and hyphenation have been repaired4 ,archaic and variable spelling has been preserved as printed4 ,the following errors in facing page number references have been repaired3 ,page #fa--plate reference to page #ha amended to #hb4 ,page #gf--plate references for the ,vertumnus and ,pomona series amended from #ci through #db to #gb through #ge4