Tapestry

William Sheldon, to whom the honour is due (as indeed he claims in his will) of having been the first to establish tapestry weaving in England, set up looms at Barcheston and Baddesley Clinton in Warwickshire not long after the middle of the i6th cen tury. Although his chief weaver, Richard Hyckes, had been sent to the Netherlands to learn the craft, these English tapestries have a character of their own. The tapestries which, above all, have preserved Sheldon's name from unmerited oblivion are the maps of English counties belonging to the Bodleian library at Oxford and the Yorkshire Philosophical Society. Such evidence as can be gleaned about the Barcheston work tends to show that it went on, for a short time at any rate, after the foundation of the factory at Mortlake in the year 1619, though the possibility that it was absorbed into the royal factory should not be lost sight of. The promoters of that factory, in a petition to King James I., instanced the example of the French king, whose factories at Paris had brought him so much honour. Weavers from the Nether lands were engaged, and effective steps were taken to secure a standard of craftsmanship equal to that of any contemporary work. At first, the subjects of older Flemish tapestries were copied, after the fashion of the time, and this procedure was largely followed throughout the career of the factory, which lasted, with varying fortunes, till the end of the century. With its de cline, ateliers were set up in the neighbourhood of London by weavers who had been employed at Mortlake, and there can be no doubt that this rivalry hastened the decline of the parent factory, which finally closed its doors in the year 1703. William Benood worked at Lambeth and Francis Poyntz at Hatton Garden, but the most eminent and perhaps the greatest, of all these weavers was John Vanderbank of Great Queen street, Soho, whither the Great Wardrobe was removed from Hatton Garden towards the end of the 17th century. Vanderbank held the office of Yeoman arras-worker in the reigns of William III., Anne and George I. Looms were set up at Chelsea about the year 1723 by James Christopher Le Blon. He wove two or three small panels of the Head of Christ, after the Vatican emerald, but nothing else by him is known. Parisot, a Frenchman, wove small tapestry panels at Paddington and Fulham towards the middle of the 18th century. A few years later, Paul Saunders, a capable and original weaver, was at work in London. After his time there is little to be said about tapestry-weaving in England for another ioo years. The revival in the latter part of the 19th century will be referred to later.

Germany and Switzerland.

In its earlier stages, tapestry weaving in Germany and Switzerland held aloof from the Flemish tradition. Work seems to have been done chiefly in convents and private houses. In the border of a tapestry in Bamberg cathedral, two Dominican nuns are seen at work at the loom—no doubt the weavers of the panel itself. Most of these tapestries are small. Long narrow panels, illustrating scriptural subjects, rhymed ro mances, allegories and fanciful or purely decorative themes were woven in Switzerland, principally in Basel and the neighbourhood, in the 15th and i6th centuries. There is a remarkable collection in the Basel museum. It is not unusual in mediaeval German work to find small details done in knotted pile after the manner of carpet-weaving, and occasionally whole tapestries were woven in pile. An example of the i 2th century is in the cathedral of

Quedlinburg, and another, of the early years of the i6th, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

In the i6th century, factory-work was organized after the example of the Low Countries at Lauingen in Swabia. At the end of the century a factory was started at Munich under Flemish direction. A fresh start was made in the year 1718, and weaving continued for another 8o years. Works were set up at Berlin and Wiirzburg towards the end of the 17th century, and at Dresden early in the 18th century.

Other Countries.

As in Germany, tapestry-weaving in Scan dinavia was a domestic craft in the middle ages, and such it has always continued to be. A few early specimens have been pre served ; among them is the panel attributed to the i 2th century, with figures symbolical of the months of April and May, from Baldishol church, and now in the Museum at Oslo. They bear wit ness to the early origin of tapestry-weaving in Scandinavia, and also to its continuity with little change down to recent times. Few colours are used and the designs are extremely simple. The tradi tional character of much Scandinavian work often renders the age of a specimen a matter of considerable doubt. In Sweden and Norway the weaving of relatively large panels, with subjects taken from the Bible or from the legends of heroes, was carried on down to the later years of the i8th century, to be revived in recent times. Many pieces are squares, often double, for cushion-covers. It is significant that ordinary pattern-weaving for curtains and hangings has been carried on contemporaneously with the work more usually associated with the tapestry-process. In this and other respects Scandinavian work throws light on the practice of tapestry-weaving in primitive times.

In Denmark, Flemish weavers were established before the end of the i6th century. A series of tapestries at Rosenborg castle, Copenhagen, was woven by command of King Christian V. to commemorate events in the war between Sweden and Denmark in the years 1675 to 1679.

In Holland, tapestry-weaving was closely associated with Flanders and it followed the same tradition. Weaving was done at Middelburg as early as the i 5th century. In the 17th century Delft and Amsterdam were the chief centres.

In Russia, tapestries were woven at Moscow in the early years of the I 7th century by a weaver from Antwerp. At Leningrad, weavers from the Gobelins were established under Peter the Great early in the i8th century, and portraits of members of the royal family were woven. Flemish weavers arrived in the latter half of the century, and domestic scenes after the fashion of the Low Countries were woven. Tapestry-weaving was carried on well into the 19th century.

Present

Day.—Throughout Europe the spacious dwellings of even half-a-century ago are rapidly being replaced by smaller apartments, for which some slighter form of ornament is regarded as equally appropriate, while it is often less costly. Since the War, the relatively high cost of tapestry-work, and the straitened cir cumstances of many to whom the weavers would naturally look for employment, has contributed still further to give a temporary setback to the industry.