GOBELIN, the name of a family of dyers, who probably came from Reims, and in the middle of the I 5th century estab lished themselves in the Faubourg Saint Marcel, Paris. The first head of the firm, named Jehan (d. 1476), discovered a scarlet dyestuff, and spent so much on his establishment that it was named la folie Gobelin. To the dye-works there was added in the 16th century a manufactory of tapestry (q.v.). In the third or fourth generation some of the family purchased titles of nobility. Balthasar Gobelin (d. 1603), who became successively treasurer general of artillery, treasurer extraordinary of war, councillor secretary of the king, chancellor of the exchequer, coun cillor of State and president of the chamber of accounts, in 16o1 received from Henry IV. the lands and lordship of Briecomte Robert. The name of the Gobelins as dyers cannot be found later than the end of the 17th century. In 1662 the works in the Fau bourg Saint Marcel were purchased by Colbert on behalf of Louis XIV., and transformed into a general upholstery manufactory, in which designs were executed under the superintendence of the royal painter, Le Brun. The establishment, closed in 1694, was reopened in 1697 for the manufacture of tapestry, chiefly for royal use and for presentation. The industry, suspended during the Revolution, was revived by the Bourbons, and in 1826 the manu facture of carpets was added. The manufacture is still carried on under the State.
See Lacordaire, Notice historique sur les manufactures imperiales de tapisserie des Gobelin et de tapis de la Savonnerie, precedee du cata logue des tapisseries qui y sont exposes (1853) ; Guiffrey, Histoire de la tapisserie en France (1878-85) ; Genspach, Repertoire detaille des tapisseries executees aux Gobelins, 1662-1892 (1893) ; M. Fenaille, Etat general des tapisseries de la manufacture des Gobelins, 1600—I900 (5 vols., 1903-23) .