| |
History
of our European Tapestry Collection
Save on Tapestries.com welcomes you to revel in the history
of our European Tapestry collection, which in ancient days
was used to decorate affluent homes and important buildings.
Tapestries are functional, beautiful and portable, and contain
histories as intricate as the threads that bind them. It
is also believed to have covered the walls of the Parthenon
These high qualities; European made tapestry reproductions
are Jacquard woven in Belgium, France, and Italy. The patterns
and scenes, which are woven into the fabric, are inspired
from original European designs-Art, many of which now adorn
the walls of fine art museums and stately manors.
Tapestry Art
Tapestry art is one of the most effective forms of literary
expression the world has ever known. Through the use of this
unique art form, the stories of Homer's Odyssey and Iliad
were told and made vivid to the ancient Greeks. Even the
stories of Virgil's Aneida and Ovid's Metamorphoses were
made vivid to the Romans through the use of these woven art
pieces. In fact, woven tapestry art has vividly told the
stories of the Greeks, Romans, Medieval, and the Renaissance
period as well as the Old & New Testament. Countless heroes
and nobility have owned hand-woven tapestry art in France,
England, Germany, and Italy from ancient times to more recently
throughout the Thirteenth to the Eighteenth centuries. Between
the hand-woven tapestry art of classical antiquity and that
of the Thirteenth century, a long period of darkness and
artistic void intervened in western culture, and for over
a thousand years weavers were content to leave the making
of large wall paintings to artists and embroiderers. Today
they are made on Jacquard looms. (Click here to view our
entire tapestry collection)
Unicorn Tapestries
Our Unicorn tapestries, like the unicorn itself, are one
of the marvels of the world, for in no other work of art
anywhere is the pursuit and capture of this magical creature
presented in such astonishing detail, with such command of
pictorial verisimilitude and symbolic intention. In a duality
not rare in the late middle ages, the imagery is secular
and religious. The references to love, matrimonial fidelity
and desire for progeny are understandable in an ensemble
that may have celebrated a marriage. But the unicorn, at
the same, is Christ, and the compositions reflect the Incarnation,
the Passion, and the Resurrection. Gabriel, the angel of
the Annunciation, is one of the hunters; the unicorn loses
his fierceness in the lap of the Virgin Mary: and thorny
crown encircles his horn and neck when he is slain; and then
the glorious creature is miraculously alive again and chained
to a pomegranate tree, simultaneously an image of the risen
Christ and of lover-bridegroom secured by his adored lady.
Many of the best-known works, such as the "Lady with the
Unicorn" series, were produced towards the end of the fifteenth
century in the Loire Valley. Approximately 15,000 people
were employed in the manufacturing of these charming 'mile
fleurs' scenes of lords, ladies and peasants set in a background
of local flowers. Painters made the preliminary design. Weavers
extracted the dyes, mostly from plants, in up to twelve colors,
dyed the thread and only then commenced weaving. A skilled
weaver took two months to complete just one square foot,
working with English or Picardy wool, Italian silk, and silver
and gold thread from Cyprus. The skills of a weaver were
often passed from father to son. (Click here to view our
Unicorn wall hangings).
Medieval Tapestries
Then, in the early Thirteenth and Fourteenth century, Gothic
art appeared in woven tapestry art with its unique form of
religious mystery and romance to fascinate the viewer. Their
hand-woven tapestry art was intensely personal, intensely
human, and overall intensely spiritual. The tapestry art
created at that time was the work of men permeated with religious
consciousness and with the warm comprehension of the omniscience
and omnipresence of their God.
Scholars define medieval times synonymously with the Middle
Ages, meaning from the fall of the Roman Empire through the
14th century, and describe the Renaissance as the period
from the 14th century through the 16th century. This time
frame can only be used as a general rule of thumb, as the
transition in art was more gradual. As a matter of fact,
many tapestry pieces from the 15th and 16th century would
be considered medieval, though technically woven during the
Renaissance. Wide varieties of bobbins are still used just
as in the Medieval and Renaissance times. (Click here to
view our medieval tapestry collection)
Renaissance tapestry
On the other hand evolved later on with completely opposite
views. The purpose of Gothic pictorial art in hand-woven
tapestry art was to tell the story beautifully and effectively,
but in all cases to tell the story at any expense.
The purpose of Renaissance pictorial art in woven tapestry
was to produce illusions of what reality should be. It was
actually more intellectual, more abstract, and more scientific
with perfection of form, precision of method, and creative
grandeur as it's objective for the viewer. The artist Raphael
and his Renaissance School of Ancient Roman Art, in actuality,
gave rise to the Renaissance tapestry art style in the early
sixteenth century. Original antique tapestry pieces can range
from a few thousand dollars to over $200,000 for large high
quality Renaissance pieces. (Click here to view our Renaissance
tapestry collection)
Raphael
Raphael was one of the greatest masters of composition that
Europe has ever produced. The art-historical importance of
Raphael’s famous design is more familiar, perhaps,
than their original purpose and subsequent history. Pope
Leo X commissioned the tapestries for the lower walls of
the Sistine chapel. Michelangelo’s ceiling, completed
in 1512 had destroyed the original decorative equilibrium.
The tapestries may have been intended to restore that aesthetic
balance. His drawings were prized and sought after even during
his lifetime and is a living testimony to the glory of his
art. Through the study of his drawings and engraving we can
follow the development of a work of art from the germ of
an idea in a sketchbook to the finished painting. Ever since
the Renaissance the collection of drawings has been considered
a mark of refinement and taste. In the past artists gave
drawings to kings, patrons and other important people. Today
all museums, galleries and prvate collectors eagerly seek
after drawings by famous artists. Raphael is best known for
his Madonnas and for his large figure compositions in the
Vatican in Rome. His work is admired for its clarity of form
and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of
the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. Raphael’s
paintings are living things; the flesh palpitates, the breath
comes and goes, every organ lives, life pulsates everywhere.
(Click here to view our Art Tapestry collection)
Verdure
A tapestry is called verdure when its main subject is the
green work of nature: landscapes, forests, leaves and fruit.
Animal, hunters, and mythological beings are the usual additions
to the verdure; a genre scene is somewhat unexpected. (Click
here to read more) Vegetation was the essential subject,
but this often included more than plant forms or a landscape.
Architectural elements, such as a distant castle or a bridge,
crept into the design with small, recognizable, woodland
animals in the foreground and an occasional hunter or shepherd
in the distance. The modern verdures are with animals and
small figures.
Francois Boucher
(1703-1770), French painter, noted for his pastoral and mythological
scenes, whose work embodies the frivolity and sensuousness
of the rococo style. In figure tapestries, the great name
is Boucher. From the outset Boucher’s great talent
was evident in the elegance and ease of his compositions.
The transitory preoccupation of his silent shepherdesses
was entirely in the spirit of the first half of the eighteenth
century.
Boucher, the son of a designer of lace, was born in Paris.
He studied with the painter Francois Le Moyne but
was most influenced by the delicate style of his contemporary
Antoine Watteau. In 1723 Boucher won the Prix de Rome; he
studied in Rome from 1727 to 1731. After his return to France,
he created hundreds of paintings, decorative boudoir panels,
tapestry designs, theater designs, and book illustrations.
He became a faculty member of the Royal Academy in 1734.
He designed for the Beauvais tapestry works and in 1755 became
director of the Gobelins tapestries. In 1765 he was made
first painter to the king, director of the Royal Academy,
and designer for the Royal Porcelain Works. His success was
encouraged by his patron, Marquise de Pompadour, mistress
to Louis XV. He painted her portrait several times.
Boucher's delicate, lighthearted depictions of classical
divinities and well-dressed French shepherdesses delighted
the public, who considered him the most fashionable painter
of his day. Examples of his work are the paintings Triumph
of Venus (1740, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm) and Nude Lying
on a Sofa (1752, Alte Pinakothek, Munich) and the tapestry
series Loves of the Gods (1744). Boucher's sentimental, facile
style was too widely imitated and fell out of favor during
the rise of neoclassicism. He died in Paris on May 30, 1770.
The extraordinary career of Francois Boucher was unmatched
by his contemporaries in versatility, consistency and output.
For many, particularly the writers and collectors who led
the revival of interest in the French rococo during the last
century, his sensuous beauties, coquettish milkmaids and
plump cupids represent the French eighteenth century at its
most typical. His facility with the brush, even when betraying
the occasional superficiality of his art, enabled him to
master every aspect of painting - history and mythology,
portraiture, landscape, ordinary life and, as part of larger
compositions, even still life. (Click here to view Francois
Boucher’s art in tapestry reproduction)
Aubusson
Family enterprises at Aubusson and nearby Felletin supplied
local patrons. Henry’s IV economic program of protection
from Flemish competition encouraged their development. Light
colors were favored at Aubusson partly because tapestries
were coarser and looser in weave. The subjects reflected
contemporary taste.
Aubusson tapestries portray pastoral settings, such as country
cottages surrounded with verdure. While battle scenes were
not part of Aubusson's repertoire, they were used to illustrate
the size of their client's estate. "Tapestries were an early
form of advertising," says James Waite, president of Heirloom
European Tapestries near Sacramento, California. "When noble
families traveled throughout their kingdom, tapestries advertised
their power through scenes depicting famous battles or impressive
hunting achievements. Usually, their estates were featured
in the background, allowing them to demonstrate wealth and
education. People were in awe of their power.
A sea of knots on the back side reveals the tedious handiwork
required for each piece, making them a highly regarded gift
during the Middle Ages. "They were given as wedding gifts,
or as offerings to ambassadors from other states or kingdoms," says
Waite. Kings and queens often lined their cold castle walls
with these precious textiles for both their beauty and their
warmth. As the demand for tapestries grew throughout Europe,
countries such as Italy and Spain imported French and Belgian
craftsmen to teach local artisans how to create these woven
masterpieces.
Most tapestry designs began as paintings. "On a piece of
cardboard, an artist would sketch the design which would
later become the tapestry.” Famous artists, like Boucher,
painted scenes which were then made into tapestries." One
18th-century tapestry trend included producing pieces that
looked like paintings from a distance. Animal imagery such
as stags, woodpeckers, and exotic fowl were often incorporated
within the scenes. A lion, for example, was a symbol of power,
while a unicorn, often shown rearing, translated into wisdom,
elegance, grace and purity.
Bayeux
The Bayeux tapestry is embroidery that is roughly 20”tall
and 230 ft long. It tells the story of the events leading
up to and including the battle of Hastings on October 14th1066.
The images have been reproduced in tapestries.
The Bayeux Tapestry has preserved the glory of the Norman
Conquest of England, and the drama of Harold of Wessex and
Duke William of Normandy for over 900 years. Usually attributed
to William's wife Matilda, the Bayeux Tapestry in fact was
more likely commissioned by William's half-brother, Bishop
Odo of Bayeux (also Earl of Kent), for display in the Bayeux
Cathedral, which was consecrated just eleven years after
Hastings. The 231-foot-long tapestry is a Norman document,
but the style of the figures sewn in colored wools leads
some scholars to believe that Englishmen from Canterbury
actually stitched the Bayeux Tapestry. The Bayeux Tapestry
was first mentioned in a 1476 inventory of the Bayeux Cathedral.
In 1792, French revolutionaries used this historical tapestry
as a wagon cover until a local lawyer rescued it. Scholars
believe two missing panels at the end may have portrayed
William on the throne of England. (Click here to view Bayeux
tapestries)
Chenille Tapestries
Our Chenille tapestry collection boasts of floral, modern,
armorial and medieval tapestries. Some of them of them have
been finished unlined to enable adapt to different usages
examples: wall hangings, throws or accent decorative rug
(strictly light use). They are made and designed in traditional
Flemish traditions by Flemish artisans.
Floral and Still life
Our Floral tapestry collection is a beautiful assortment
of different Floral still lives from France, Italy and Belgium.Some
of them are from famous artists such as Vincent Van Gogh,
Redoute, Iphigenie Millet de Mureau, and more.
Lake Como
Take the opportunity to view these beautiful and stunning
tapestries of scenes and views found only around the area
of the Lake of Como, considered by many to be one of the
most beautiful corners of the world. These scenes have been
reproduced from a late 18th century tapestry scene at Lake
Como in northern Italy. The terrace and gardens are those
of the Villa d’Este Estate: peaceful gardens that can
still be visited today. . This small and very charming village
on the western shore of Lake Como has come to share the fame
of Villa d'Este. Since the 1500's, the estate served as a
royal residence before it was transformed in 1873 into one
of Europe’s most fabulous and luxurious hotels.
Royal Hunt Scenes
Our Royal Hunt scène tapestries are tapestry reproductions
from Italy and Belgium. In the early 1500's combat and hunting
scenes were popular with the aristocracy. The Holy Roman
Emperor Charles V was even accompanied into battle by his
court painter who made sketches at the site for later weaving.
Hunting scenes led to 'verdure' tapestries of lush landscapes,
which in turn developed, into romanticized pastoral designs,
which reflected increasing Italian influences.
Oriental tapestries
Our oriental tapestry collection comprises of Royal Elephants-
Woven in 1844, inspired by a design of Jean Amédée
Couderc. The original is exhibited at the Musée du
Louvre in Paris. We also carry an Elephant in Oriental style,
trendy in Europe in the XIX th century. Woven in Aubusson
along with other tapestries of camels and Lord Buddha.
(click here to view our Oriental Tapestries)
William Morris
William Morris was born in Walthamstow, Essex, on 24 March
1834. The son of a wealthy businessman, he enjoyed a comfortable
childhood before going to Marlborough and Exeter College,
Oxford.He originally intended to take holy orders, but his
reading of the social criticism of Carlyle, Kingsley and
Ruskin led him to reconsider the Church and devote his life
to art.
After leaving Oxford, Morris was briefly articled to G. E.
Street, the Gothic Revival architect, but he soon left, having
determined to become a painter. His admiration for the Pre-Raphaelites
led him to be introduced to Dante Gabriel Rossetti whose
influence can be seen on Morris's only surviving painting
La Belle Iseult.
In the 1860s Morris decided that his creative future lay
in the field of the decorative arts. His career as a designer
began when he decorated the Red House, Bexleyheath, which
had been built for him by Philip Webb. The success of this
venture led to the formation of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.
in 1861. The 'Firm' (later renamed Morris & Co) was particularly
well known for its stained glass, examples of which can be
seen in churches throughout Britain. Morris produced some
150 designs, which are often characterized by their delightful
foliage patterns.
His greatest achievement as a designer was in the field of
textiles and wallpapers. The designs for these were influenced
by his knowledge of the medieval works held at the South
Kensington Museum and his own observation of natural forms.
(Click here to see William Morris tapestries)
Beatrix Potter
English author and illustrator of picture book for very young,
creator of the characters Peter Rabbit, Jeremy Fisher, Jemima
Puddle-Duck, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, and others. Potter's popularity
has shown no sign of diminishing since she created the timeless
children's books.
"Once upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were - Flopsy,
Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter. They lived with their Mother in a sand-bank, underneath
the root of a very big tree" (from The Tale of Peter Rabbit, 1902) (Click here
to view Beatrix Potter tapestries)
Cicely Mary Parker
Cicely was born in Croydon, South London in 1895 and died
in 1973. Her Flower Fairies are known and loved around the
world. Cicely was known as a quiet, unassuming and dedicated
artist who spent her life illustrating many children's books
and selling hundreds of watercolors and pastels. Today, more
than twenty years after her death, her work continues to
delight both young and old.
Cicely was educated at home because of ill health and taught
herself to draw and paint. Cicely's Flower Fairy books brought
her the most public acclaim. In these she recreated the beauty
of nature as well as the joy of childhood. Her plants and
flowers were observed with complete botanical accuracy and
the Fairies themselves capture the unselfconscious grace
of young children. For anyone who loves fairies or who loves
flowers or who loves children, these are the perfect collection.
We are proud to be one of a very few retailers to stock the
entire selection of Cicely Mary Barker Flower Fairy range
of tapestry products.
(Click here to view Cicely Mary Barker tapestries)
|
of
the motif. Indeed, working from a medieval or contemporary
design, the creator has to transcribe the colours
and contours for the weaving. Which will be possible
only after this work of " mise en carte".
