Italian Tapestry Already in 1420 Johannes Thomae de Francia (French) was managing, at Mantua, an atelier for the Gonzaga family. Succeeding him came Nicolas, Guidone, Adamante (all French). Flemings were employed about 1450 (Rinaldo Boteram of Brussels, and one Rubichetto). Giovanni dei Conradi and Andre Mantegna did cartoons. In Venice looms were started by John of Bruges and Valentine of Arras in 1421. Boteram set up looms also in Siena. Renault de Maincourt (about 1455) did "The Creation of the World" for Pope Nicolas V. In 1441 Ferrara had looms worked by the Flemings Pietro di Andrea and Giacomo' de Angelo; while Nicolas and John Karcher worked there with Lucas Cornelisz tie designer. Rost and five other Flemings arrived, a school was opened and a local artist, Battista Dosso, de awned "Life of Hercules," "Scenes from Metamorphoses" and other beautiful work. Extant pieces of this school are (in Ferrara Cathedral) "Story of Saint George and Saint Maurelius° and (in Como Cathedral) "Story of the Virgin .° In Florence the Medici estab lished an atelier called "Arrezaria Medicea° (1546-1737), under Karcher and Rost. Johan van der Straaten was director about 1570 and did prolific work. Many pieces are in the Florence Tapestry Museum, including the Kar cher and Rost best productions "The Story of 'Joseph" in 20 pieces. Cartoons were designed by Jacopo Sansovino, Bacchiacca and others. Master weavers (17th century) were Papini, van Asselt, Lefevre, Pollastri, the two Termini, Bartoli, Manzi, Cavalieri, Bucci. In Rome, Cardinal Barberini (1633) established an atelier with Jean Francois Romanelli as art director, Giacomo della Riviera director of works, M. Wauters (of Flanders) was a creator. "Scenes from the Life of Christ," in 11 pieces, in the Cathedral of Saint John the New ew York, are from this factory. rn the Hospitale Saint Michele, Rome, Pope Clem ent XI started (1710) an atelier with Jean Simonet of Paris manager, and A. Procaccini art director. Ferloni was manager from 1717 to 1770. In Naples (1737), the Florence Medici factory having closed, its weavers started here and ran till 1799. Under Benedetto da Milano the Vigevano works started (16th century) and produced the "Triulse Months" for Marshal Triulse, now in this family's Milan palace.
German Otto-Heinrich had an atelier at Launingen in the 16th century. Peter Candid designed and Hans van de Biest wove (17th century) "The Four Seasons" and °Day° and "Night," six pieces, in the Munich Museum.
French Premier, after his Italian campaign, started an atelier (about 1535) at Fontainebleau. The "History of Diana" was done in honor of Diana of Poi tiers. Under his son (Henri II) it became de funct; but (1551) Henri opened an atelier at the orphan asylum, La Trinite, employing the children on the work. The "History of Mausolus and Artemisia" (15 pieces) were made here by Maurice du Bourg, its chief, from the designs of Larembert and Caron. Other factories have reproduced it. Henri IV started both high and low warp looms in 1597 in faubourg Saint Antoine ateliers, under du Bourg and Daurent; and, about 1601, Flemish artisans were invited to Paris. Frans van den Planken came from Oudenarde and Marc de Coomans from Brussels and started an atelier in Paris with branches in Tours and Amiens.
Henri IV decided to accelerate the industry still more by installing du Bourg and Laurent in the Louvre and de la Planche (van den Planken) with Coomans in Les Tournelles palace. The latter works was moved to faubourg Saint Marceau, Paris. Louis XIV patronized the industry and Pierre Lefevre and his son Jean (Florence weavers) came to Paris in 1647. The high warp looms of Tours got Cardinal Richelieu's patronage. Rheims, under direction of Daniel Pepersack, produced °The Story of Christ" and other works. Fouquet o( Vaux let Maincy start an atelier (1658) on his estate and Le Brun drew cartoons for it ("The Hunt of Meleager"); Louis Blammaert di rected the Flemish weavers. When Fouquet, as successor of Mazarin, fell in disgrace, the Maincy factory was closed, after only three years' operation.
Beauvais Tapestry.— Minister Colbert (1664) persuaded Louis Hinert, owner of Flanders ateliers, to move his looms to Beauvais under such attractions as a subsidy, assurance of Court orders and 30 years' privi lege. Hinert was bankrupt by 1684 and was succeeded by Philipe Behagle, who started mak ing full-sized figure pieces. High and low warp looms were operated, but the large pieces showed very little demand. Behagle started a school of design under management of Le Pape and many of the small pieces (low warp), of great beauty, for furniture, came from de signs of this class. On Behagle's death his sons failed and the brothers Filleul took over the business only to fail likewise. In 1722 the atelier was run by Sieur de Merou, who en gaged Jean-Baptiste Oudry (from the Gobe lins). Oudry's genius in designing cartoons and management made Beauvais noted. Per fect workmanship marks this period; verdures are delightful, cute ducks, pheasants, foxes, dogs charm connoisseurs. Charles Natoire (of Gobelins) used his talent on furniture. Merou's financial losses brought Nicholas Besnier as successor. Noted designers of Beauvais pieces are Francois Boucher, Leprince, Casanova, etc. Low warp pieces predominate. Besnier's death in 1753, followed by the death of Oudry two years later, injured art values of future Beauvais pieces although, under the auspices of Andre-Charlemagne Ctiarron (1753-1780) the factory was quite a success. From 1780 Sieur de Merou (from Aubusson) was director, and introduced the fabrication of pile rugs (Savon nerie style). The Revolution injured the in dustry and for one year it was closed but the factory has been kept running ever since. Among extant Beauvais pieces are *Conquests of Louis the Great' (two pieces only) in Florence; Raphael's *Acts of the Apostles' (eight pieces), one set in Beauvais Cathedral, another in the French National Collection; *Adventures of Telemachus' (six pieces) in Royal Spanish Collection, several in Paris; *Battles of Charles XII of Sweden' (four pieces) in Royal Swedish Collection. Oudry's *Fables of La Fontaine' designs for chairs gained great popularity and were reproduced prolifically. In the archbishop's palace at Aix en-Provence are a set of Natoire's *Don Quixote' (10 pieces). Quite a large number of Boucher's pieces are in the United States.