FOOTNOTES:

A woman reclines under a treeSee larger image

SUMMEREnglish Tapestry, Temp. Henry VIII. at Hatfield

There are four pieces of tapestry representing the Seasons, removed from an old family house and placed by Lord Salisbury at Hatfield House, where they hang in the great corridor. These were probably woven in Barcheston. (Plate49.) The style is English Renaissance, and the design full of intention; in fact, they have the seal of the time of Henry VIII. Only onecharacteristic reminds one of Flemish art, and that is the mode of drawing the plants and flowers, which might have been taken out of an old German herbal. The landscapes and peasantry are unmistakably English. The pictures are worked with strong black outlines which emphasize every detail and give the effect of a highly coloured outlined engraving; reminding one of the children’s books by Marcus Ward or by Walter Crane.[420]

The tapestries called the “Spanish Armada hangings” were probably woven here late in Elizabeth’s reign. In her time we find in catalogues of household goods, descriptions of splendid hangings, furnishings of palaces and private houses. The MS. inventory of the Earl of Leicester’s belongings, in the library at Longleat, astonishes us with the abundance of suites of hangings of tapestry that it enumerates, as well as those embroidered by hand, and others of stamped and painted leather.

It was in the reign of James I. that the manufacturewas set up at Mortlake, in Surrey. Aubrey, in his “History of Surrey, i. p. 82,” however, dates the institution in the subsequent reign; but Lloyd[421]is not only positive for the former date, but affirms it was “of the motion of King James himself,” who gave £2000 towards the undertaking; and we have further proofs extant that he spent largely, and encouraged it in every way. He gave to Sir Francis Crane, who erected the house at Mortlake, “the making of three Baronets” towards his project for manufacture of tapestry.[422]

Another curious item which we quote, shows that the funds for the enterprise were not easily forthcoming. It is a warrant “to Sir Francis Crane: £2000 to be employed in buying £1000 per ann. of pensions or other gifts made of the king, and not yet payable, for ease of His Majesty’s charge of £1000 a year towards the maintenance of Sir Francis Crane’s tapestry manufacture.”[423]

Apparently this little arrangement did not succeed, for there is an acknowledgment by Charles I., in the first year of his reign,[424]that he is in debt to Sir F. Crane: “For three suits of gold tapestry we stand indebted to Sir Francis Crane £6000. Also Sir F. Crane is allowed £1000 annually for the better maintenance of said works for ten years to come.” The king also granted the estate of Stoke Bruere, near Stamford, in Northamptonshire, as part payment of £16,400 due to him on the tapestry works at Mortlake.[425]The great value of these tapestries is shown by the prices named in the Domestic Papers of the State Paper Office,and in private inventories; they were woven in silk, wool, and gold, which last item accounts both for their price and for their disappearance.

William, Archbishop of York and Lord Keeper, gave £2500 for four pieces of Arras representing the four Seasons.[426]Their value, however, fell during the civil wars, for the tapestries of the five Senses from the Palace of Oatlands, which were from the Mortlake looms, were sold in 1649 for £270. The beautiful tapestries at Houghton were woven at Mortlake: these are all silk, and contain whole length portraits of James I. and Charles I., and their Queens, with heads of the royal children in the borders. A similar hanging is at Knowle, wrought in silk, containing portraits of Vandyke and Sir Francis Crane.[427]

Francis Cleyne was a decorator and painter employed in the works at Mortlake by Charles I., who, while he was still Prince of Wales, brought him over to England from Rostock, in Mecklenburg (his native place), while the Prince was in Spain wooing the Infanta. Cleyne was great in grotesques, and also undertook in historical designs.[428]

Three of the Raphael cartoons were sent to be copied at Mortlake.[429]The purchase of these cartoons by the king, showed how high was the standard to which he triedto raise the art in England. The “Triumph of Cæsar,” by Mantegna, was obtained for the same purpose in 1653; and certain Dutch prisoners were forwarded to the manufactory to be employed on the work.[430]It was entrusted to the care of Sir Gilbert Pickering, who was either an artist or the superintendent of the works.

After the death of Sir Francis, his brother, Sir Richard Crane, sold the premises to Charles I. During the civil wars, the property was seized upon and confiscated as having belonged to the Crown. It occupied the site of what is now Queen’s Head Court. The old house opposite was built by the king for the residence of Cleyne the artist. Gibson, the dwarf, and portrait painter, who had been page to a lady at Mortlake, was one of his pupils.[431]

The value of the king’s collection of tapestries was well understood during the Protectorate. The tapestry house remained in the occupation of John Holliburie, the “master-workman.” After the Restoration, Charles II. appointed Verrio as designer, intending to revive the manufactory. This was not, however, carried out; but the work still lingered on, and must have been in some repute, for Evelyn names some of these hangings as a fit present among those offered by a gallant to his mistress.[432]

Arras is said to have been woven at Stamford, but we have no data of its establishment or its suppression. Burleigh House contains much of it; and there is a suite of hangings at Belton House, near Grantham, of which there are duplicates at Wroxton House, in Oxfordshire, all having the same traditional origin at Stamford. Possibly Sir Francis and Sir Richard Crane may havereceived orders at their house at Stoke Bruere, which lay near enough to Stamford to account for the magnates of the town and neighbourhood obtaining furnishings of their tapestries, and, perhaps, vying with each other in decorating their apartments with them.[433]

In Northumberland House there was a fine suite of tapestry, woven in Lambeth, 1758.[434]This is the only sample of that loom of which we ever find any mention. There were also works at Fulham, where furniture tapestry in the style of Beauvais was made. This manufactory was closed in 1755.[435]It may be hoped that the revival of tapestry weaving at Windsor in our own day may be a success, but without the royal and noble encouragement it receives, it would probably very soon fall into disuse.

Unless it is supported by the State, such an exceptionally expensive machinery cannot possibly be kept at work. It requires the superintendence of the best artists, and the weavers themselves must needs have the highest technical education to enable them to copy really fine designs. These artistic requirements, besides the extreme tediousness of the work, make it the most expensive of all luxurious decorations—even more costly than embroideries by the hand, covering the same spaces. However, the two styles of hangings never canenter into competition, except in a financial point of view. Tapestries are the best fitted for wall coverings, and embroideries for curtains of all kinds—for beds, for windows, and for portières.

The old hangings are now again having their day, and we are striving to save and restore all that remain to us. We must continue to guard these treasures from the moths, their worst enemies; and science should be invoked to assist us in the preservation of these precious works of art, of which the value is now again understood and appreciated, and which increases with every decade that is added to their antiquity.

Tapestry, as art, has its own peculiar beauties, and one of them is the softening, yet brilliant effect of the alternate lights and shadows of the ridge-like surface; the separation of each stitch and thread also casting minute shadows in the opposite direction, and giving an iridescent effect. It is a mistake to struggle against this inherent quality, instead of seeking to utilize it. The coarser and simpler tapestries of our ancestors are really more beautiful and effective in large spaces—flat in the arrangement of colours, and sharply outlined—than the imitations of paintings of the last two centuries, in which every detail of form and colour is sought to be expressed.[436]

M. Blanc says that tapestries were intended to cover the bare walls, but not to make us forget their existence. The wall being intended for comfort and defence, the mind is solaced with the idea it conveys. It is a mistake, therefore, to substitute a surface picture, so real that it atonce does away with this impression of security, while a certain conventional art should amuse the mind with shadowy representations and suggestions.

It is, perhaps, fortunate that the possibilities of tapestry weaving are restricted, and thus its very imperfections become the sources of its best qualities as decoration and comfort. One element of textile weaving, the use of gold, both in the backgrounds and in the draperies, takes it at once out of the region of naturalism, while giving it light and splendour.

The designer for tapestry need not be a great genius. Harmony, repose, grace, and tender colouring are the qualities most valuable to such an artist. Battle-pieces, and other exciting and awful subjects, are only bearable in apartments that are used for state occasions, or for hanging corridors and anterooms. They are painful to live with.

All tapestries are liable to suffer by the double nature of their materials—their woollen surface and linen threads which are affected by both damp and heat crinkling the forms and puckering the faces, and bringing out unexpected expressions and deformities. For this reason the design should be as flat and as simple in its outline and shading as is consistent with beauty.

FOOTNOTES:[317]Birdwood, “Indian Arts,” p. 283.[318]“The word in Sanskrit for a needle issuchi, fromsuch, to sew or pierce. This is the same word as the Latinsuo, to sew; so probably the common word used by the Aryans in their primeval habitations wassu, and they clearly knew how to sew at that remote period. Eve sewed fig-leaves together. Adam sewed also. The Hebrew word istafar, and clearly meantsewing, notpinningtogether with thorns. Sewing is the first recorded art of our forefathers.”—Letter from Mr. Robert Cust.[319]Semper, “Der Stil,” Textile Kunst, i. pp. 77-90.[320]Semper, Textile Kunst, “Der Stil,” i. p. 77. The German word “naht,” here literally translated, would be, uniting, weaving, bringing together.[321]“Handbook of Plain Needlework,” by Mrs. Floyer. See also her “Plain Hints for Examiners,” &c.[322]Dr. Rock, “Introduction,” pp. cix, cx, calls it “thread embroidery,” and names some specimens in the South Kensington Museum. He says it was sometimes done in darning stitches for ecclesiastical purposes, for instance, for coverings for the pyx. It is mentioned in the Exeter inventory of the fourteenth century. There is notice of white knotted thread-work belonging to St. Paul’s, London, in 1295, by Dugdale (p. 316).[323]St. Catherine of Sienna’s winding-sheet is described as being cut work (punto tagliato) on linen. This sounds like embroidery of the type now sold as “Madeira work,” the pattern being cut out and the edges overcast.[324]Semper, “Der Stil,” i. pp. 132, 203.[325]See Semper, “Der Stil,” i. p. 289.[326]Ibid. He cites Athenæus, iv. 64.[327]Phrygia in general, and especially Babylon, were famed for their embroideries. “Colores diversos picturæ intexere Babylon maxime celebravit et nomen imposuit.”—Pliny, lib. viii. 74. See D’Auberville, “Ornement des Tissus,” p. 7.[328]“Der Stil,” i. p. 196. “Opus Phrygium,” in the Middle Ages, included all gold work in flat stitches. The cloak worked by Queen Gisela in the ninth century, for her husband, St. Stephen, King of Hungary, the imperial mantle at Bamberg, of the date of 1024, and the robes of Bishop William de Blois (thirteenth century), in the library at Worcester Cathedral, are all “opus Phrygium,” and resemble each other in style.[329]In the Museum at Munich are two remarkable examples of these imitations. There is an embroidered badge of the Order of the Dragon, worked in gold and woven over with coloured silks, so as to present the appearance of enamel (sixteenth century). The second is a dress for a herald of the Order of St. Hubertus, which is richly embroidered in gold and silver, and the badge and collar are imitated in the most extraordinary manner, and laid on entirely in gold needlework. This is of the seventeenth century.[330]In Salt’s collection from Saccarah (British Museum); also at Turin, in the Egyptian Museum; and in the collections in the Louvre, figured by Auberville in the “Ornamentation des Tissus.”[331]Hence the French name,pointes comptées.[332]See Semper, ii. p. 213, for wood-work at Panticapæum, Kertch, in the Crimea, which evidently has descended in style from panelled needlework hangings. Chaldean wall decoration at Khorsabad and Warka, near Nimroud, recalls the effect of “opus pulvinarium” according to Loftus. See Semper, i. p. 327.[333]“Der Stil,” i. pp. 196, 248. This is known from the archaic books of imperial commerce.[334]Peacocks’ feathers, either woven or onlaid, are those most commonly used in China and Japan. “Ka Moolelo Hawaii,” by M. Jules Remy, Paris, 1861. See Ferdinand Denis, “Arte Plumaria,” p. 66.[335]Yates, “Textrinum Antiquorum,” p. 373, translates from Publius Syrus the wordplumata, “feathered.” The word “embroidered” would have here improved the sense, even though it is a peacock that is described.“Thy food the peacock, which displays his spotted train,As shines a Babylonian shawl with feather’d gold.”He also quotes Lucan, who is praising the furnishings of Cleopatra’s palace: “Part shines with feathered gold; part sheds a blaze of scarlet.”—Yates, p. 373.[336]Sir G. Birdwood, with all his enthusiasm for Indian art and its forms, yet cannot resist a touch of humour when he describes a state umbrella, of which the handle and ribs are pure gold, tipped with rubies and diamonds, the silken covering bordered with thirty-two fringed loops of pearls, and “also appropriately decorated with the feathers of the peacock, heron, parrot, and goose.”—Birdwood, “Indian Arts,” ii. p. 182.[337]“History of the Kingdom of Congo,” c. viii. p. 55, by Filippo Pigafetta (translated by Mrs. M. Hutchinson).[338]In the Tyrol certain embroideries are called “Federstickerei.”[339]For the feather hangings at Moritzburg, seeAppendix 2.[340]“Arte Plumaria,” by M. Ferdinand Denis. Paris, 1875.[341]The Plumarii mentioned by Pliny were craftsmen in the art ofacu pingere, or painting with the needle. Though Seneca speaks of the “opus plumarium” as if it were absolutely feather-work, yet it may have been at that time undergoing its transition into embroidery, suggested by feathers, and imitating them in gold, silver, wool, or thread. When Lucan describes the extraordinary change introduced into Roman habits and luxury by Cleopatra’s splendours, his use of the words, “pars auro plumata nitet,” probably means their imitation or mixture with gold embroidery, and would, therefore, come under the head of “opus Phrygium.”[342]It is said that the work, named “Plumarium,” was made by the needle; and the Greeks, from the variety of the threads, called it “Polymitum.” “Plumarium dicitur opus acu factum quod Græci a licionum varietate multiplici polymitarium appellant.”—Robert Stephan. “Thesaurus Linguæ Latinæ,” s.v. Plumarius.[343]Blümner, i. p. 209. “The Plumarii were a class of persons mentioned by Vitruvius, and found likewise in inscriptions. It cannot be decided with certainty what was their occupation; their name would lead us to suppose that it has something to do with feathers.”—Becker’s “Gallus,” ii. p. 288. But see Marquardt, “Handbuch d. Röm. Altert.” vii. pt. 2, p. 523.[344]“Plumarium qui acu aliquod depingit super culcitris plumeis.”—R. Steph., “Thesaur. Lat.”[345]See “The Funeral Tent of an Egyptian Queen,” by Villiers Stuart.[346]See Auberville’s “Tissus,” Plate i.[347]“Compte Rendu de la Commission Archéologique, St. Petersburg, 1881.” Pl. iii. pp. 112,119.[348]In the British Museum is the lining of a shield which shows the arms of Redvers, third Earl of Albemarle (who died 1260), applied in different coloured silks.[349]Lent by the Archæological Museum at Madrid.[350]Rees’ Cyclopædia speaks of embroideries “on the stamp or stump,” as being so named “when the figures are high and prominent, supported by cotton, wool, or hair;” also in “low and plain embroideries, without enrichment between.” He speaks of work “cut and laid on the cloth, laid down with gold, enriched with tinsel and spangles.” Rees’ Cyclopædia, “Embroidery,” 1819.[351]“Opus consutum.” The way in which this applied work is used in India, for the special adornment of horse-cloths, saddles, and girths, is very interesting.[352]The chapter on “application,” in the Handbook of Embroidery of the Royal School of Art Needlework, will be useful to those who need instruction in the most practical, and therefore the quickest way of doing cut work.[353]Mrs. Palliser’s “History of Lace.” The origin of needle-made lace-work is attributed by M. de Gheltof to the necessity for disposing of the frayed edges of worn-out garments. This I think somewhat fanciful.Fringesmay have been so suggested.[354]See M. Blanc’s “Art in Ornament and Dress” (p. 200).[355]Mrs. Bayman (late Superintendent in the School of Art Needlework) writes thus: “I see no reason to doubt that the word guipure is derived from ‘guipa’ or ‘guiper,’ a ribbon-weaver’s term for spinning one thread round another; and that guipure was originally more like what we now call ‘guimp,’ or like ‘point de Raguse,’ first being made of thread, of more or less thickness and commoner material, wound round with a finer flax, silk, or metal; then they cut shapes, bold scrolls, and leaves out of cartisane, vellum, or parchment, winding and covering them over with the more precious thread. These figures were then connected by brides, only as close as was required to hold them together, and leaving large open spaces, thus forming the large scroll patterns seen in so many old pictures.” No doubt the heavy “Fogliami” and “Rose point” laces developed themselves from these still older kinds of point. As the cord and card lace disappeared, the name slid on to all laces with large, bold patterns and open brides, though the special method which first created it had been effaced. Latterly, embroidered netting or laces have been called “guipure d’art.” Littré gives the derivation of the word; he says it is from the GothicVaipa, or GermanWebanorWeben(gandpreplacing thewandb).[356]The word lace came from France, where it was calledlacisorlassis, derived from the Latinlaqueus(a noose). These words originally applied to narrow ribbons—their use being to lace or tie.[357]The Venetians early made much lace for furniture or ecclesiastical linen adornment, of what they called “maglia quadrata,” which was usually squared netting, afterwards filled in with patterns in darned needlework. This somewhat primitive style of lace trimming was popular on account of its simplicity, and descended to the peasantry for their domestic decorations in Spain, Germany, France, and Italy. There are specimens of this work believed to be of the thirteenth century. At the time of the Renaissance the simple geometrical designs developed into animals, fruits, flowers, and human figures.[358]See Rock, p. cix, cx. He says that a sort of embroidery was called network, and certain drawn work he calls “opus filatorium.” See Catalogue of Textiles in the South Kensington Museum, by D. Rock, p. cxxvii.[359]Reminding us of the description of a net—“holes tied together by a string.” As a contrast in descriptive style, we would quote Dr. Johnson on network: “Anything reticulated or decussated at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections.”—Johnson’s Dictionary.[360]Isaiah iii. 18, xix. 9.[361]The nets of chequer work which hung round the capitals, with the wreaths of chain work, were designed by Hiram of Tyre, at Solomon’s desire (1 Kings vii. 17).[362]A fringe lace is made on the Riviera, of the fibres of the aloe, and is called “macramè,” which is an Arabic word. Mrs. Palliser’s “History of Lace,” p. 64.[363]A collar of fine white human hair was made in point lace stitches at Venice, and worn at his coronation by Louis Quatorze. It cost 250 pieces of gold. “Scritti di V. Zanon da Udine” (1829). Cited by Urbani de Gheltof, “Merletti di Venezia,” pp. 22, 23.[364]See, for example, the inventory of the household goods of the great Earl of Leicester at Longleat; also the lists of the possessions of Ippolito and Angela Sforza (sixteenth century).[365]Coloured thread and silk laces are still made in Venice.[366]In the British Museum.[367]M. Blanc’s use of the word “guipure” is different from that found in the notices of the art by other authorities.[368]The first lace-making machine was contemporary, or nearly so, with the stocking-making frame. About the year 1768 it was altered, and adapted for making open-work patterns. In 1808, the Heathcot machine was started for bobbin net. In 1813, John Leaver improved on this idea, with machine-woven patterns. The Jacquard apparatus achieved the flat patterns, and the new “Dentellière” has perfected the art. Lace-making by machinery employed by the latest official returns in 1871, 29,370 women in England, and 24,000 in France. See Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th edition, p. 183-5.[369]M. Charles Blanc, “Art in Ornament and Dress,” p. 211.[370]The information contained in these volumes is most valuable, for the lace-worker as well as the collector.[371]Lady Layard suggests that the cut lace work, which was the earliest made in Venice (“punto tagliato,” “point coupé”), simply consists of button-hole stitch with purl ornaments. These are varied with geometrical stitches and needle-weaving in those solid laces called “punti tagliati Fogliami,” and “Rose point de Venise,” of the finest kinds.[372]Urbani de Gheltof, in his book, “Merletti di Venezia,” p. 9, says that Venetian laces and fringes were furnished thence for the coronation of Richard III. (1483). I fancy that gold guimps or braid, rather than netted laces, must be here intended, as we have no other notice of lace so early. SeeIbid.pp. 10-20.[373]Henry VIII. had a pair of hose of purple silk, edged and trimmed with a lace of purple silk and gold, of Milanese manufacture. Harl. MSS., 1519.[374]The manufacture of point d’Alençon was created under the special orders of Louis Quatorze, by Colbert, in 1673. Now more than 200,000 women, besides the machinists, are employed in lace-making in France. Colbert imported the teachers from Venice.[375]Yriarte says that Alençon, Argenton, Sedan, Mercourt, Honiton, Bedford, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Mechlin, Bruges, Brussels, all followed in imitation of Venice. Yriarte’s “Venise,” p. 250.[376]Titian drew the designs for one of these books for “punti tagliati.” The laces made in the Greek islands probably owe their origin to Venice, showing the same “punti in aria.”[377]I have already spoken of “lacis” as either darned netting or drawn work. Of this there is an English specimen at Prague, said by tradition to be the gift of Queen Anne of Bohemia, wife of Richard II. It originally trimmed or bordered an ecclesiastical garment.[378]For further information, we refer the reader to M. Urbani de Gheltof’s book on Venice laces already cited (Organia, Venice, 1876), and Lady Layard’s translation (1882).[379]I am assured on the best authority that this is unknown as yet at Burano; but the workers, as well as the revived industry, are very young. The modern school of Burano has only been established eleven years. It is certainly delightful to see the 320 happy faces, singing, chattering, and smiling over their graceful occupation; and the beauty of the Buranese women, which is celebrated, has not suffered from their occupation. There is a charming little article of theRevista di Torino, 1883, which describes the improvement in the social condition of Burano, morally and physically, and the way it is recognized by the inhabitants. Instead of signs of miserable poverty, the promoters of the lace school are greeted by the women leaning from the windows with, “Siestu benedetta!” (“Be thou blessed!”).[380]The word “tapestry” comes from the Greektapes, which is used equally for hangings or carpets. The Italians call carpets “tapeti” to this day. It is believed to have been originally an Egyptian word for such fabrics.[381]For instance, the embroidered hangings of the eighth century at Gerona, in Spain, have been more than once quoted as proofs of tapestries having been manufactured there at that period.[382]The “slay” means the “strike.” The word had the same meaning originally: to slay a man was to strike him.[383]See De Champeaux, South Kensington Museum Art Handbook, 1878.[384]“Bibliothèque des Merveilles” (sur les Tapisseries), publié sous la direction de M. Edouard Charton, à Paris, 1876.[385]Martial, xiv. 150.[386]Minerva accepts the challenge of the Mæonian Arachne, who will not yield to her in the praises of being first in weaving wool. The girls desert the vineyards round the little town of Hypæpa, to look at her admirable workmanship. She boasts that hers is finer than that of Pallas, and, desiring a vain victory, rushes upon her own destruction. “... They stretch out two webs on the loom, with a fine warp. The web is tied to the beam; the slay separates the warp; the woof is inserted in the middle with sharp shuttles, while the fingers hurry along, and being drawn with the warp, the teeth (notched in the moving slay) strike it. Both hasten on their labour, and girding up their garments to their bosoms, they move their skilful arms, their eagerness beguiling their fatigue. There are being woven both the purples, which are subjected to the Tyrian brazen (dyeing) vessel with fine shades of minute difference; as in the rainbow with its mighty rays reflected by the shower, where, though a thousand colours are shining, yet the very transition eludes the eyes that look upon it; to such a degree is that which is adjacent the same, and yet the extremes are different. The pliant gold is mingled with the threads, and ancient subjects are represented on the webs.” Then follows the list of the subjects. The web of Pallas had a large central design, and a smaller one on each corner, surrounded with a border of olive leaves. Arachne’s contained nineteen pictures, of two or more figures each, and was surrounded by a border of flowers, interwoven with the twining ivy. Ovid’s “Metamorphoses,” book vi.Through the kindness of my friend, Lord Houghton, I am enabled to give the sequel of the story—Arachne’s transformation into the Spider, as—A Paraphrase and a Parable.Lo! how Minerva, recklessly defied,Struck down the maiden of artistic pride,Who, all distraught with terror and despair,Suspended her lithe body in mid-air;Deeming, if thus she innocently died,The sacred vengeance would be pacified.Not so: implacable the goddess cried—“Live on! hang on! and from this hour beginOut of thy loathsome self new threads to spin;No splendid tapestries for royal rooms,But sordid webs to clothe the caves and tombs.Nor blame the Poet’s Metamorphoses:Man’s Life has Transformations hard as these;Thou shall become, as Ages hand thee down,The drear day-worker of the crowded town,Who, envying the rough tiller of the soil,Plies her monotonous unhealthy toil,Passing through joyless day to sleepless nightWith mind enfeebled and decaying sight,Till some good genius,[437]kindred though apart,Resolves to raise thee from the vulgar mart,And once more links thee to the World of Art.”[387]Appendix 3.[388]Guicciardini ascribes the invention of woven tapestry to Arras, giving no dates; so we do not know whether he attributes it to the Belgic Atrebates or to their successors, the Franks. In either case the craft was probably imported from the East.[389]The Atrebates were the inhabitants of that Belgic region till the fifth century; now it is the province of Artois, probably a corruption of the name “Atrebates.” Taylor, “Words and Places” (1865), pp. 229-385.[390]Castel, “Des Tapisseries,” p. 30.[391]Sidonius Apollinaris, Epist. ix., 13. Cited in Yule’s “Marco Polo,” p. 68.[392]Castel, “Des Tapisseries,” p. 31.[393]The commentators of Vasari, MM. Lechanché and Jenron, believe that this art was coeval in the Low Countries with Roman civilization and Christianity; but it would appear that the weavers had fled to Britain to escape from the Romans. Ibid. p. 52. Traces of the name Arras have been found by Bochart and Frahn in Ar-ras, the Arabian name for the river Araxes and the people who inhabit its shores; but this may be accidental, and is at best an uncertain derivation.[394]Rock, Introduction, p. cxii. This “Saracenic work” is really so like what is called by the Germans “Gobelins” when found in Egyptian tombs that one can hardly doubt whence the Moors brought their art. There are several Egyptian specimens in the British Museum. See also the catalogue of Herr Graf’schen’s collection of Egyptian textiles, from the first to the eighth century. “Katalog der Teodor Graf’schen Fünde in Ægypten, von Dr. Karabacek. Wien, 1883.”[395]Viollet-le-Duc, “Dictionnaire du Mobilier Français, Tapis,” p. cxii; also M. Jubinal, “Tapisserie Historique.” It is difficult absolutely to assign to any known specimens a date anterior to the fifteenth century; although M. de Champeaux thinks that the “Sarazinois” were mostly or entirely carpet-weavers about the eleventh century. He says there is documentary authority to prove that these were woven with flowers and animals. There is a very deep-piled velvety carpet at Gorhambury (the Earl of Verulam’s place). Here Queen Elizabeth’s arms and cypher appear on a Persian or Moresque ground pattern surrounded with a wreath of oak leaves. It may have been a gift from Spain,—left after one of her visits to her Chancellor.[396]“Tapisseries des Gobelins,” A. L. Lacordaire, p. 10 (1853). He considers that the Sarazinois were embroiderers as well as weavers—and this theory is supported by extracts from an inventory of Charles VI.’s hangings of 1421.Every detail of the art and its materials was carefully regulated by the French statutes of 1625-27, containing many laws for the perfecting of the manufacture of new as well as the restoration of old tapestries—and fines were imposed for not using materials as nearly as possible matching the original ones; and likewise for any other dereliction from the rules of the craft. Ibid. pp. 9, 10, 14.[397]At the Poldi Bezzoli Museum in Milan there are some very fine carpets; one especially, a Persian, is supposed to be of the fifteenth century. This is very finely woven of pure, tender colours, and the whole composition, flowers and animals (most beautifully drawn lions, &c.), is delicately outlined in black on a white ground. The colouring is rich and harmonious, and has the iridescent effect of mother of pearl.[398]In the San Clemente frescoes at Rome there are hangings which show a semi-Asiatic style.[399]“Mémoires Historiques et Ecclesiastiques d’Auxerre,” par M. l’Abbé Lebœuf, i. pp. 178, 231.[400]There are very interesting Norwegian tapestries of the sixteenth century, which show distinctly an Eastern origin.[401]Jubinal, “Tapisseries,” pp. 25, 26; Viollet-le-Duc, “Dic. de Mobilier Français,” p. 269.[402]There is much splendid tapestry—German, and especially Bavarian,—to be seen at Munich; and, indeed, the more one seeks, the more one finds that private looms were constantly at work in the Middle Ages for votive offerings. There is a tapestry altar-piece at Coire, in the Grisons, of the Crucifixion, which is evidently of the fourteenth century. The colours are still brilliant, and the whole background is beautifully composed of growing flowers. No sky is seen. There is at Munich an altar frontal of tapestry, Gothic of the fifteenth century, exquisitely beautiful. The weaver has introduced a little portrait of herself at her loom, under the folds of the virgin’s cloak at her feet.[403]M. Albert Castel (“Tapisserie,” p. 53) believes that the taking of Constantinople, when Earl Baldwin was elected to the throne of Byzantium, had a great effect on Flemish art, which then received a strong impulse from Oriental designs and traditions. See M. Jubinal’s very interesting account of the tapisserie de Nancy which lined the tents of Charles the Bold at the siege of Nancy (p. 439). These tapestries are an allegory against gluttony. “Tapisseries Hist.,” pp. 1-5.[404]Charles the Bold has left us records of his taste in tent hangings of Arras at Berne, as well as at Nancy. These are the plunder from his camp equipage after the battle of Grandson. The whole suite, of many pieces, represents battles and sieges, and sacred subjects also, such as the adoration of the Magi. They are finely drawn and splendidly executed with gold lights, and are of the most perfect style of the fifteenth century. The National Museum at Munich contains most valuable specimens of very early and very fine tapestries; amongst others, a Virgin, which was certainly designed in the school of Dürer, and is of the greatest perfection of its art, both as to colour and drawing and the general effect, which has a soft, dreamy beauty, only to be seen in fine woollen tapestries, and differing from pictorial design and intention.[405]See Rock, cxii: Among the remarkable suites of tapestry of which we find historical mention are the following: In 1334, John de Croisette, a “Tapissier Sarazinois, demeurant à Arras vendit au Duc de Touraine un tapis Sarazinois à or: de l’histoire de Charlemagne” (Voisin, p. 6). Of the many recorded as belonging to Philip, Duke of Burgundy and Brabant, one piece, “Haulte lice sanz or: de l’histoire du Duc de Normandie, comment il conquit Engleterre.”—“Les Ducs de Bourgogne,” par le Comte de Laborde, ii. p. 270, No. 4277.[406]M. de Champeaux, the author of the “Handbook of Art Tapestry” belonging to the series of the Kensington Museum, 1878, says that the history of Arras has yet to be written. He, however, gives a great deal of interesting information, especially about the French tapestries, on which subject we fancy there is little more to tell. Their art does not come from such a distant time as that of the Belgian manufactures. After Louis IX. had decimated the inhabitants, and dispersed the remainder, Arras yet made a gallant struggle to revive her industry and compete with the rising prosperity of Brussels; but France had decreed against her.[407]“Encyclopædia Britannica” (“Art Tapestry”), pp. 17, 97.[408]Vasari vividly describes the design for a tapestry for the King of Portugal—the history of Adam—on which Leonardo da Vinci, then aged twenty, was engaged. He lingers tenderly over the picture of the flowery field and the careful study of the bay-trees. Vasari, tom. vii. p. 15; ed. Firenze, 1851.[409]See M. Jubinal’s “Tapisseries Historiées,” p. 26; Viollet-le-Duc, “Mobilier Français,” i. p. 269.[410]Froissart’s “Chronicles,” iv., chap. 23; Johnes ed. 1815.[411]M. de Champeaux, “Handbook of Art Tapestry,” p. 24; also Rock, “Textiles,” p. 122. M. Lacordaire, “Tapisserie des Gobelins,” p. 15, tells us that under Louis XIII. the statutes of 1625-27 contain many regulations for the perfection of the materials employed in weaving new as well as in restoring old tapestries. Fines were imposed for not matching the colours carefully.[412]English wool is still used for the finest tapestries at the Gobelins. The wool from Kent is considered the best.[413]“Vitæ St. Alban. Abbatum,” p. 40; Rock, p. cxi. That the walls were covered with tapestry in the thirteenth century is supposed to be proved by the description of Hrothgar’s house in the Romance of Beowulf. We are told that the hangings were rich with gold, and a wondrous sight to behold. “History of Domestic Manners, &c., in England during the Middle Ages,” by Thomas Wright, p. 2.[414]Matthew Paris, in Dugdale Monast., ed. 1819, ii. p. 185.[415]Quoted by Michel from MSS. in the Imperial Library, Paris.[416]This was a writ to the Aldermen and Sheriffs of the City of London, principally levelled against the dealings of “certain Frenchmen which were against the well-being of the trade of the Tapissiarii ... by petition of Parliament at Westminster.” Calend. Rot. Pat. Edward III., p. 148, “De Mysterâ Tapiciarorum,” Lond. M. 41.[417]Called “verdures” in French inventories.[418]Rock’s Introduction, p. lxxix.[419]“The art of weaving tapestry was brought to England by William Sheldon, Esq., about the end of the reign of Henry VIII.”—See Dugdale’s “Warwickshire” (“Stemmata:” Sheldon), 2nd edition, folio, vol. i. p. 584; also Lloyd’s “State Worthies,” p. 953, quoted by Manning and Bray, “Hist. of Surrey,” vol. iii. p. 82. But we have an earlier notice of a spirited attempt to make fine tapestries at Kilkenny. Piers, Earl of Ormonde, married the daughter of Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare, “a person of great wisdom and courage.” They brought from Flanders and the neighbouring provinces artificers and manufacturers, whom they employed at Kilkenny in working tapestries, diaper, Turkey carpets, cushions, &c. Piers died 1539. Carte’s Introduction to the “Life of James, Duke of Ormonde,” vol. i. p. 93 (Oxford, 1851).[420]William Sheldon at his own expense brought workmen from Flanders, and employed them in weaving maps of the different counties of England. Of these, three large maps, the earliest specimens, were purchased by the Earl of Orford (Horace Walpole), by whom they were given to Earl Harcourt. He had them repaired and cleaned, and made as fresh as when out of the loom, and eventually gave them to Gough, the antiquary, who bequeathed them to the University of Oxford. The Armada tapestry, which is stated to have been designed by Henry Cornelius Vroom, the Dutch marine painter, and woven by Francis Spiering, appears to have been, in 1602, in the possession of Lord Howard, Lord High Admiral and the hero of the Armada. Fuller particulars are given in Walpole’s “Anecdotes,” i. p. 246, under the name of Vroom, Sandart being the principal authority. Part of them were in the House of Lords till 1834, when they perished in the fire. These had been engraved in 1739 by John Pine, but it appears that at that time there were in the royal wardrobe other pieces, now lost.[421]Lloyd’s “Worthies.”[422]Calendar of State Papers, cx. No. 26, James I., 1619-23.[423]Calendar of State Papers, vol. clxxxi. No. 48.[424]Rymer, “Fœdera,” vol. viii. p. 66, ed. 1743.[425]Brydges, “Northamptonshire,” i. p. 323, under the head of “Stoke Bruere,” pt. 1, p. 48.[426]Manning and Bray’s “History of Surrey,” vol. iii. p. 302.[427]Horace Walpole, “Anecdotes of Painting in England,” vol. ii. p. 22.[428]Macpherson, “Annals of Commerce.”[429]There is in Brydges’ “Northamptonshire,” under the head of “Stoke Bruere” (the estate which King James gave to Sir F. Crane as part payment of the deficit of £16,400 in his tapestry business), mention of the cartoons of “Raphael of Urbin, ... had from Genoa,” and their cost, £300, besides the transport. M. Blanc says, with great justness, that Raphael, when he prepared these cartoons for tapestry, made designs for weaving, anddid not paint pictures. If they had been intended for oil pictures, they would have been very differently treated.[430]Calendar State Papers, Domestic, Sept. 28th, 1653.[431]Horace Walpole’s “Anecdotes of Painting,” vol. iii. p. 64.[432]See Evelyn’s very scarce tract, entitled “Mundus Muliebris,” printed 1690, p. 8.[433]Lord Tyrconnell, Lord Exeter, and Lord Guildford had married three of the Brownlow heiresses of Belton, who had a winter residence at Stamford.[434]Designed by Francesco Zuccharelli. Rock, Introduction, p. cxiv.[435]It has been at different periods the crowning glory of the craft of the weaver to place different patterns or pictures on the two sides of the web. This would almost appear to be impossible, but that it has been done in late years, according to Rock, who tells us that he saw a banner so woven, with the Austrian eagle on one side and the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception on the other. He says that the same manufacturer was then being employed in producing ecclesiastical garments with the colours and patterns so varied.[436]In old tapestries three tints only were employed for the complexions of men, women, and children—the man’s reddish, the woman’s yellow, and the child’s whiter than either. It is an agreeable economy of colours, simple and effective, and avoids the pictorial imitation that one deprecates. See M. Charles Blanc’s “Grammaire des Arts Décoratifs: Tapisserie,” p. 112.[437]The poet here refers to H.R.H. the Princess Christian.

[317]Birdwood, “Indian Arts,” p. 283.

[318]“The word in Sanskrit for a needle issuchi, fromsuch, to sew or pierce. This is the same word as the Latinsuo, to sew; so probably the common word used by the Aryans in their primeval habitations wassu, and they clearly knew how to sew at that remote period. Eve sewed fig-leaves together. Adam sewed also. The Hebrew word istafar, and clearly meantsewing, notpinningtogether with thorns. Sewing is the first recorded art of our forefathers.”—Letter from Mr. Robert Cust.

[319]Semper, “Der Stil,” Textile Kunst, i. pp. 77-90.

[320]Semper, Textile Kunst, “Der Stil,” i. p. 77. The German word “naht,” here literally translated, would be, uniting, weaving, bringing together.

[321]“Handbook of Plain Needlework,” by Mrs. Floyer. See also her “Plain Hints for Examiners,” &c.

[322]Dr. Rock, “Introduction,” pp. cix, cx, calls it “thread embroidery,” and names some specimens in the South Kensington Museum. He says it was sometimes done in darning stitches for ecclesiastical purposes, for instance, for coverings for the pyx. It is mentioned in the Exeter inventory of the fourteenth century. There is notice of white knotted thread-work belonging to St. Paul’s, London, in 1295, by Dugdale (p. 316).

[323]St. Catherine of Sienna’s winding-sheet is described as being cut work (punto tagliato) on linen. This sounds like embroidery of the type now sold as “Madeira work,” the pattern being cut out and the edges overcast.

[324]Semper, “Der Stil,” i. pp. 132, 203.

[325]See Semper, “Der Stil,” i. p. 289.

[326]Ibid. He cites Athenæus, iv. 64.

[327]Phrygia in general, and especially Babylon, were famed for their embroideries. “Colores diversos picturæ intexere Babylon maxime celebravit et nomen imposuit.”—Pliny, lib. viii. 74. See D’Auberville, “Ornement des Tissus,” p. 7.

[328]“Der Stil,” i. p. 196. “Opus Phrygium,” in the Middle Ages, included all gold work in flat stitches. The cloak worked by Queen Gisela in the ninth century, for her husband, St. Stephen, King of Hungary, the imperial mantle at Bamberg, of the date of 1024, and the robes of Bishop William de Blois (thirteenth century), in the library at Worcester Cathedral, are all “opus Phrygium,” and resemble each other in style.

[329]In the Museum at Munich are two remarkable examples of these imitations. There is an embroidered badge of the Order of the Dragon, worked in gold and woven over with coloured silks, so as to present the appearance of enamel (sixteenth century). The second is a dress for a herald of the Order of St. Hubertus, which is richly embroidered in gold and silver, and the badge and collar are imitated in the most extraordinary manner, and laid on entirely in gold needlework. This is of the seventeenth century.

[330]In Salt’s collection from Saccarah (British Museum); also at Turin, in the Egyptian Museum; and in the collections in the Louvre, figured by Auberville in the “Ornamentation des Tissus.”

[331]Hence the French name,pointes comptées.

[332]See Semper, ii. p. 213, for wood-work at Panticapæum, Kertch, in the Crimea, which evidently has descended in style from panelled needlework hangings. Chaldean wall decoration at Khorsabad and Warka, near Nimroud, recalls the effect of “opus pulvinarium” according to Loftus. See Semper, i. p. 327.

[333]“Der Stil,” i. pp. 196, 248. This is known from the archaic books of imperial commerce.

[334]Peacocks’ feathers, either woven or onlaid, are those most commonly used in China and Japan. “Ka Moolelo Hawaii,” by M. Jules Remy, Paris, 1861. See Ferdinand Denis, “Arte Plumaria,” p. 66.

[335]Yates, “Textrinum Antiquorum,” p. 373, translates from Publius Syrus the wordplumata, “feathered.” The word “embroidered” would have here improved the sense, even though it is a peacock that is described.“Thy food the peacock, which displays his spotted train,As shines a Babylonian shawl with feather’d gold.”He also quotes Lucan, who is praising the furnishings of Cleopatra’s palace: “Part shines with feathered gold; part sheds a blaze of scarlet.”—Yates, p. 373.

“Thy food the peacock, which displays his spotted train,As shines a Babylonian shawl with feather’d gold.”

He also quotes Lucan, who is praising the furnishings of Cleopatra’s palace: “Part shines with feathered gold; part sheds a blaze of scarlet.”—Yates, p. 373.

[336]Sir G. Birdwood, with all his enthusiasm for Indian art and its forms, yet cannot resist a touch of humour when he describes a state umbrella, of which the handle and ribs are pure gold, tipped with rubies and diamonds, the silken covering bordered with thirty-two fringed loops of pearls, and “also appropriately decorated with the feathers of the peacock, heron, parrot, and goose.”—Birdwood, “Indian Arts,” ii. p. 182.

[337]“History of the Kingdom of Congo,” c. viii. p. 55, by Filippo Pigafetta (translated by Mrs. M. Hutchinson).

[338]In the Tyrol certain embroideries are called “Federstickerei.”

[339]For the feather hangings at Moritzburg, seeAppendix 2.

[340]“Arte Plumaria,” by M. Ferdinand Denis. Paris, 1875.

[341]The Plumarii mentioned by Pliny were craftsmen in the art ofacu pingere, or painting with the needle. Though Seneca speaks of the “opus plumarium” as if it were absolutely feather-work, yet it may have been at that time undergoing its transition into embroidery, suggested by feathers, and imitating them in gold, silver, wool, or thread. When Lucan describes the extraordinary change introduced into Roman habits and luxury by Cleopatra’s splendours, his use of the words, “pars auro plumata nitet,” probably means their imitation or mixture with gold embroidery, and would, therefore, come under the head of “opus Phrygium.”

[342]It is said that the work, named “Plumarium,” was made by the needle; and the Greeks, from the variety of the threads, called it “Polymitum.” “Plumarium dicitur opus acu factum quod Græci a licionum varietate multiplici polymitarium appellant.”—Robert Stephan. “Thesaurus Linguæ Latinæ,” s.v. Plumarius.

[343]Blümner, i. p. 209. “The Plumarii were a class of persons mentioned by Vitruvius, and found likewise in inscriptions. It cannot be decided with certainty what was their occupation; their name would lead us to suppose that it has something to do with feathers.”—Becker’s “Gallus,” ii. p. 288. But see Marquardt, “Handbuch d. Röm. Altert.” vii. pt. 2, p. 523.

[344]“Plumarium qui acu aliquod depingit super culcitris plumeis.”—R. Steph., “Thesaur. Lat.”

[345]See “The Funeral Tent of an Egyptian Queen,” by Villiers Stuart.

[346]See Auberville’s “Tissus,” Plate i.

[347]“Compte Rendu de la Commission Archéologique, St. Petersburg, 1881.” Pl. iii. pp. 112,119.

[348]In the British Museum is the lining of a shield which shows the arms of Redvers, third Earl of Albemarle (who died 1260), applied in different coloured silks.

[349]Lent by the Archæological Museum at Madrid.

[350]Rees’ Cyclopædia speaks of embroideries “on the stamp or stump,” as being so named “when the figures are high and prominent, supported by cotton, wool, or hair;” also in “low and plain embroideries, without enrichment between.” He speaks of work “cut and laid on the cloth, laid down with gold, enriched with tinsel and spangles.” Rees’ Cyclopædia, “Embroidery,” 1819.

[351]“Opus consutum.” The way in which this applied work is used in India, for the special adornment of horse-cloths, saddles, and girths, is very interesting.

[352]The chapter on “application,” in the Handbook of Embroidery of the Royal School of Art Needlework, will be useful to those who need instruction in the most practical, and therefore the quickest way of doing cut work.

[353]Mrs. Palliser’s “History of Lace.” The origin of needle-made lace-work is attributed by M. de Gheltof to the necessity for disposing of the frayed edges of worn-out garments. This I think somewhat fanciful.Fringesmay have been so suggested.

[354]See M. Blanc’s “Art in Ornament and Dress” (p. 200).

[355]Mrs. Bayman (late Superintendent in the School of Art Needlework) writes thus: “I see no reason to doubt that the word guipure is derived from ‘guipa’ or ‘guiper,’ a ribbon-weaver’s term for spinning one thread round another; and that guipure was originally more like what we now call ‘guimp,’ or like ‘point de Raguse,’ first being made of thread, of more or less thickness and commoner material, wound round with a finer flax, silk, or metal; then they cut shapes, bold scrolls, and leaves out of cartisane, vellum, or parchment, winding and covering them over with the more precious thread. These figures were then connected by brides, only as close as was required to hold them together, and leaving large open spaces, thus forming the large scroll patterns seen in so many old pictures.” No doubt the heavy “Fogliami” and “Rose point” laces developed themselves from these still older kinds of point. As the cord and card lace disappeared, the name slid on to all laces with large, bold patterns and open brides, though the special method which first created it had been effaced. Latterly, embroidered netting or laces have been called “guipure d’art.” Littré gives the derivation of the word; he says it is from the GothicVaipa, or GermanWebanorWeben(gandpreplacing thewandb).

[356]The word lace came from France, where it was calledlacisorlassis, derived from the Latinlaqueus(a noose). These words originally applied to narrow ribbons—their use being to lace or tie.

[357]The Venetians early made much lace for furniture or ecclesiastical linen adornment, of what they called “maglia quadrata,” which was usually squared netting, afterwards filled in with patterns in darned needlework. This somewhat primitive style of lace trimming was popular on account of its simplicity, and descended to the peasantry for their domestic decorations in Spain, Germany, France, and Italy. There are specimens of this work believed to be of the thirteenth century. At the time of the Renaissance the simple geometrical designs developed into animals, fruits, flowers, and human figures.

[358]See Rock, p. cix, cx. He says that a sort of embroidery was called network, and certain drawn work he calls “opus filatorium.” See Catalogue of Textiles in the South Kensington Museum, by D. Rock, p. cxxvii.

[359]Reminding us of the description of a net—“holes tied together by a string.” As a contrast in descriptive style, we would quote Dr. Johnson on network: “Anything reticulated or decussated at equal distances, with interstices between the intersections.”—Johnson’s Dictionary.

[360]Isaiah iii. 18, xix. 9.

[361]The nets of chequer work which hung round the capitals, with the wreaths of chain work, were designed by Hiram of Tyre, at Solomon’s desire (1 Kings vii. 17).

[362]A fringe lace is made on the Riviera, of the fibres of the aloe, and is called “macramè,” which is an Arabic word. Mrs. Palliser’s “History of Lace,” p. 64.

[363]A collar of fine white human hair was made in point lace stitches at Venice, and worn at his coronation by Louis Quatorze. It cost 250 pieces of gold. “Scritti di V. Zanon da Udine” (1829). Cited by Urbani de Gheltof, “Merletti di Venezia,” pp. 22, 23.

[364]See, for example, the inventory of the household goods of the great Earl of Leicester at Longleat; also the lists of the possessions of Ippolito and Angela Sforza (sixteenth century).

[365]Coloured thread and silk laces are still made in Venice.

[366]In the British Museum.

[367]M. Blanc’s use of the word “guipure” is different from that found in the notices of the art by other authorities.

[368]The first lace-making machine was contemporary, or nearly so, with the stocking-making frame. About the year 1768 it was altered, and adapted for making open-work patterns. In 1808, the Heathcot machine was started for bobbin net. In 1813, John Leaver improved on this idea, with machine-woven patterns. The Jacquard apparatus achieved the flat patterns, and the new “Dentellière” has perfected the art. Lace-making by machinery employed by the latest official returns in 1871, 29,370 women in England, and 24,000 in France. See Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th edition, p. 183-5.

[369]M. Charles Blanc, “Art in Ornament and Dress,” p. 211.

[370]The information contained in these volumes is most valuable, for the lace-worker as well as the collector.

[371]Lady Layard suggests that the cut lace work, which was the earliest made in Venice (“punto tagliato,” “point coupé”), simply consists of button-hole stitch with purl ornaments. These are varied with geometrical stitches and needle-weaving in those solid laces called “punti tagliati Fogliami,” and “Rose point de Venise,” of the finest kinds.

[372]Urbani de Gheltof, in his book, “Merletti di Venezia,” p. 9, says that Venetian laces and fringes were furnished thence for the coronation of Richard III. (1483). I fancy that gold guimps or braid, rather than netted laces, must be here intended, as we have no other notice of lace so early. SeeIbid.pp. 10-20.

[373]Henry VIII. had a pair of hose of purple silk, edged and trimmed with a lace of purple silk and gold, of Milanese manufacture. Harl. MSS., 1519.

[374]The manufacture of point d’Alençon was created under the special orders of Louis Quatorze, by Colbert, in 1673. Now more than 200,000 women, besides the machinists, are employed in lace-making in France. Colbert imported the teachers from Venice.

[375]Yriarte says that Alençon, Argenton, Sedan, Mercourt, Honiton, Bedford, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Mechlin, Bruges, Brussels, all followed in imitation of Venice. Yriarte’s “Venise,” p. 250.

[376]Titian drew the designs for one of these books for “punti tagliati.” The laces made in the Greek islands probably owe their origin to Venice, showing the same “punti in aria.”

[377]I have already spoken of “lacis” as either darned netting or drawn work. Of this there is an English specimen at Prague, said by tradition to be the gift of Queen Anne of Bohemia, wife of Richard II. It originally trimmed or bordered an ecclesiastical garment.

[378]For further information, we refer the reader to M. Urbani de Gheltof’s book on Venice laces already cited (Organia, Venice, 1876), and Lady Layard’s translation (1882).

[379]I am assured on the best authority that this is unknown as yet at Burano; but the workers, as well as the revived industry, are very young. The modern school of Burano has only been established eleven years. It is certainly delightful to see the 320 happy faces, singing, chattering, and smiling over their graceful occupation; and the beauty of the Buranese women, which is celebrated, has not suffered from their occupation. There is a charming little article of theRevista di Torino, 1883, which describes the improvement in the social condition of Burano, morally and physically, and the way it is recognized by the inhabitants. Instead of signs of miserable poverty, the promoters of the lace school are greeted by the women leaning from the windows with, “Siestu benedetta!” (“Be thou blessed!”).

[380]The word “tapestry” comes from the Greektapes, which is used equally for hangings or carpets. The Italians call carpets “tapeti” to this day. It is believed to have been originally an Egyptian word for such fabrics.

[381]For instance, the embroidered hangings of the eighth century at Gerona, in Spain, have been more than once quoted as proofs of tapestries having been manufactured there at that period.

[382]The “slay” means the “strike.” The word had the same meaning originally: to slay a man was to strike him.

[383]See De Champeaux, South Kensington Museum Art Handbook, 1878.

[384]“Bibliothèque des Merveilles” (sur les Tapisseries), publié sous la direction de M. Edouard Charton, à Paris, 1876.

[385]Martial, xiv. 150.

[386]Minerva accepts the challenge of the Mæonian Arachne, who will not yield to her in the praises of being first in weaving wool. The girls desert the vineyards round the little town of Hypæpa, to look at her admirable workmanship. She boasts that hers is finer than that of Pallas, and, desiring a vain victory, rushes upon her own destruction. “... They stretch out two webs on the loom, with a fine warp. The web is tied to the beam; the slay separates the warp; the woof is inserted in the middle with sharp shuttles, while the fingers hurry along, and being drawn with the warp, the teeth (notched in the moving slay) strike it. Both hasten on their labour, and girding up their garments to their bosoms, they move their skilful arms, their eagerness beguiling their fatigue. There are being woven both the purples, which are subjected to the Tyrian brazen (dyeing) vessel with fine shades of minute difference; as in the rainbow with its mighty rays reflected by the shower, where, though a thousand colours are shining, yet the very transition eludes the eyes that look upon it; to such a degree is that which is adjacent the same, and yet the extremes are different. The pliant gold is mingled with the threads, and ancient subjects are represented on the webs.” Then follows the list of the subjects. The web of Pallas had a large central design, and a smaller one on each corner, surrounded with a border of olive leaves. Arachne’s contained nineteen pictures, of two or more figures each, and was surrounded by a border of flowers, interwoven with the twining ivy. Ovid’s “Metamorphoses,” book vi.Through the kindness of my friend, Lord Houghton, I am enabled to give the sequel of the story—Arachne’s transformation into the Spider, as—A Paraphrase and a Parable.Lo! how Minerva, recklessly defied,Struck down the maiden of artistic pride,Who, all distraught with terror and despair,Suspended her lithe body in mid-air;Deeming, if thus she innocently died,The sacred vengeance would be pacified.Not so: implacable the goddess cried—“Live on! hang on! and from this hour beginOut of thy loathsome self new threads to spin;No splendid tapestries for royal rooms,But sordid webs to clothe the caves and tombs.Nor blame the Poet’s Metamorphoses:Man’s Life has Transformations hard as these;Thou shall become, as Ages hand thee down,The drear day-worker of the crowded town,Who, envying the rough tiller of the soil,Plies her monotonous unhealthy toil,Passing through joyless day to sleepless nightWith mind enfeebled and decaying sight,Till some good genius,[437]kindred though apart,Resolves to raise thee from the vulgar mart,And once more links thee to the World of Art.”

Through the kindness of my friend, Lord Houghton, I am enabled to give the sequel of the story—Arachne’s transformation into the Spider, as—

A Paraphrase and a Parable.Lo! how Minerva, recklessly defied,Struck down the maiden of artistic pride,Who, all distraught with terror and despair,Suspended her lithe body in mid-air;Deeming, if thus she innocently died,The sacred vengeance would be pacified.Not so: implacable the goddess cried—“Live on! hang on! and from this hour beginOut of thy loathsome self new threads to spin;No splendid tapestries for royal rooms,But sordid webs to clothe the caves and tombs.Nor blame the Poet’s Metamorphoses:Man’s Life has Transformations hard as these;Thou shall become, as Ages hand thee down,The drear day-worker of the crowded town,Who, envying the rough tiller of the soil,Plies her monotonous unhealthy toil,Passing through joyless day to sleepless nightWith mind enfeebled and decaying sight,Till some good genius,[437]kindred though apart,Resolves to raise thee from the vulgar mart,And once more links thee to the World of Art.”

A Paraphrase and a Parable.

Lo! how Minerva, recklessly defied,Struck down the maiden of artistic pride,Who, all distraught with terror and despair,Suspended her lithe body in mid-air;Deeming, if thus she innocently died,The sacred vengeance would be pacified.Not so: implacable the goddess cried—“Live on! hang on! and from this hour beginOut of thy loathsome self new threads to spin;No splendid tapestries for royal rooms,But sordid webs to clothe the caves and tombs.Nor blame the Poet’s Metamorphoses:Man’s Life has Transformations hard as these;Thou shall become, as Ages hand thee down,The drear day-worker of the crowded town,Who, envying the rough tiller of the soil,Plies her monotonous unhealthy toil,Passing through joyless day to sleepless nightWith mind enfeebled and decaying sight,Till some good genius,[437]kindred though apart,Resolves to raise thee from the vulgar mart,And once more links thee to the World of Art.”

[387]Appendix 3.

[388]Guicciardini ascribes the invention of woven tapestry to Arras, giving no dates; so we do not know whether he attributes it to the Belgic Atrebates or to their successors, the Franks. In either case the craft was probably imported from the East.

[389]The Atrebates were the inhabitants of that Belgic region till the fifth century; now it is the province of Artois, probably a corruption of the name “Atrebates.” Taylor, “Words and Places” (1865), pp. 229-385.

[390]Castel, “Des Tapisseries,” p. 30.

[391]Sidonius Apollinaris, Epist. ix., 13. Cited in Yule’s “Marco Polo,” p. 68.

[392]Castel, “Des Tapisseries,” p. 31.

[393]The commentators of Vasari, MM. Lechanché and Jenron, believe that this art was coeval in the Low Countries with Roman civilization and Christianity; but it would appear that the weavers had fled to Britain to escape from the Romans. Ibid. p. 52. Traces of the name Arras have been found by Bochart and Frahn in Ar-ras, the Arabian name for the river Araxes and the people who inhabit its shores; but this may be accidental, and is at best an uncertain derivation.

[394]Rock, Introduction, p. cxii. This “Saracenic work” is really so like what is called by the Germans “Gobelins” when found in Egyptian tombs that one can hardly doubt whence the Moors brought their art. There are several Egyptian specimens in the British Museum. See also the catalogue of Herr Graf’schen’s collection of Egyptian textiles, from the first to the eighth century. “Katalog der Teodor Graf’schen Fünde in Ægypten, von Dr. Karabacek. Wien, 1883.”

[395]Viollet-le-Duc, “Dictionnaire du Mobilier Français, Tapis,” p. cxii; also M. Jubinal, “Tapisserie Historique.” It is difficult absolutely to assign to any known specimens a date anterior to the fifteenth century; although M. de Champeaux thinks that the “Sarazinois” were mostly or entirely carpet-weavers about the eleventh century. He says there is documentary authority to prove that these were woven with flowers and animals. There is a very deep-piled velvety carpet at Gorhambury (the Earl of Verulam’s place). Here Queen Elizabeth’s arms and cypher appear on a Persian or Moresque ground pattern surrounded with a wreath of oak leaves. It may have been a gift from Spain,—left after one of her visits to her Chancellor.

[396]“Tapisseries des Gobelins,” A. L. Lacordaire, p. 10 (1853). He considers that the Sarazinois were embroiderers as well as weavers—and this theory is supported by extracts from an inventory of Charles VI.’s hangings of 1421.Every detail of the art and its materials was carefully regulated by the French statutes of 1625-27, containing many laws for the perfecting of the manufacture of new as well as the restoration of old tapestries—and fines were imposed for not using materials as nearly as possible matching the original ones; and likewise for any other dereliction from the rules of the craft. Ibid. pp. 9, 10, 14.

Every detail of the art and its materials was carefully regulated by the French statutes of 1625-27, containing many laws for the perfecting of the manufacture of new as well as the restoration of old tapestries—and fines were imposed for not using materials as nearly as possible matching the original ones; and likewise for any other dereliction from the rules of the craft. Ibid. pp. 9, 10, 14.

[397]At the Poldi Bezzoli Museum in Milan there are some very fine carpets; one especially, a Persian, is supposed to be of the fifteenth century. This is very finely woven of pure, tender colours, and the whole composition, flowers and animals (most beautifully drawn lions, &c.), is delicately outlined in black on a white ground. The colouring is rich and harmonious, and has the iridescent effect of mother of pearl.

[398]In the San Clemente frescoes at Rome there are hangings which show a semi-Asiatic style.

[399]“Mémoires Historiques et Ecclesiastiques d’Auxerre,” par M. l’Abbé Lebœuf, i. pp. 178, 231.

[400]There are very interesting Norwegian tapestries of the sixteenth century, which show distinctly an Eastern origin.

[401]Jubinal, “Tapisseries,” pp. 25, 26; Viollet-le-Duc, “Dic. de Mobilier Français,” p. 269.

[402]There is much splendid tapestry—German, and especially Bavarian,—to be seen at Munich; and, indeed, the more one seeks, the more one finds that private looms were constantly at work in the Middle Ages for votive offerings. There is a tapestry altar-piece at Coire, in the Grisons, of the Crucifixion, which is evidently of the fourteenth century. The colours are still brilliant, and the whole background is beautifully composed of growing flowers. No sky is seen. There is at Munich an altar frontal of tapestry, Gothic of the fifteenth century, exquisitely beautiful. The weaver has introduced a little portrait of herself at her loom, under the folds of the virgin’s cloak at her feet.

[403]M. Albert Castel (“Tapisserie,” p. 53) believes that the taking of Constantinople, when Earl Baldwin was elected to the throne of Byzantium, had a great effect on Flemish art, which then received a strong impulse from Oriental designs and traditions. See M. Jubinal’s very interesting account of the tapisserie de Nancy which lined the tents of Charles the Bold at the siege of Nancy (p. 439). These tapestries are an allegory against gluttony. “Tapisseries Hist.,” pp. 1-5.

[404]Charles the Bold has left us records of his taste in tent hangings of Arras at Berne, as well as at Nancy. These are the plunder from his camp equipage after the battle of Grandson. The whole suite, of many pieces, represents battles and sieges, and sacred subjects also, such as the adoration of the Magi. They are finely drawn and splendidly executed with gold lights, and are of the most perfect style of the fifteenth century. The National Museum at Munich contains most valuable specimens of very early and very fine tapestries; amongst others, a Virgin, which was certainly designed in the school of Dürer, and is of the greatest perfection of its art, both as to colour and drawing and the general effect, which has a soft, dreamy beauty, only to be seen in fine woollen tapestries, and differing from pictorial design and intention.

[405]See Rock, cxii: Among the remarkable suites of tapestry of which we find historical mention are the following: In 1334, John de Croisette, a “Tapissier Sarazinois, demeurant à Arras vendit au Duc de Touraine un tapis Sarazinois à or: de l’histoire de Charlemagne” (Voisin, p. 6). Of the many recorded as belonging to Philip, Duke of Burgundy and Brabant, one piece, “Haulte lice sanz or: de l’histoire du Duc de Normandie, comment il conquit Engleterre.”—“Les Ducs de Bourgogne,” par le Comte de Laborde, ii. p. 270, No. 4277.

[406]M. de Champeaux, the author of the “Handbook of Art Tapestry” belonging to the series of the Kensington Museum, 1878, says that the history of Arras has yet to be written. He, however, gives a great deal of interesting information, especially about the French tapestries, on which subject we fancy there is little more to tell. Their art does not come from such a distant time as that of the Belgian manufactures. After Louis IX. had decimated the inhabitants, and dispersed the remainder, Arras yet made a gallant struggle to revive her industry and compete with the rising prosperity of Brussels; but France had decreed against her.

[407]“Encyclopædia Britannica” (“Art Tapestry”), pp. 17, 97.

[408]Vasari vividly describes the design for a tapestry for the King of Portugal—the history of Adam—on which Leonardo da Vinci, then aged twenty, was engaged. He lingers tenderly over the picture of the flowery field and the careful study of the bay-trees. Vasari, tom. vii. p. 15; ed. Firenze, 1851.

[409]See M. Jubinal’s “Tapisseries Historiées,” p. 26; Viollet-le-Duc, “Mobilier Français,” i. p. 269.

[410]Froissart’s “Chronicles,” iv., chap. 23; Johnes ed. 1815.

[411]M. de Champeaux, “Handbook of Art Tapestry,” p. 24; also Rock, “Textiles,” p. 122. M. Lacordaire, “Tapisserie des Gobelins,” p. 15, tells us that under Louis XIII. the statutes of 1625-27 contain many regulations for the perfection of the materials employed in weaving new as well as in restoring old tapestries. Fines were imposed for not matching the colours carefully.

[412]English wool is still used for the finest tapestries at the Gobelins. The wool from Kent is considered the best.

[413]“Vitæ St. Alban. Abbatum,” p. 40; Rock, p. cxi. That the walls were covered with tapestry in the thirteenth century is supposed to be proved by the description of Hrothgar’s house in the Romance of Beowulf. We are told that the hangings were rich with gold, and a wondrous sight to behold. “History of Domestic Manners, &c., in England during the Middle Ages,” by Thomas Wright, p. 2.

[414]Matthew Paris, in Dugdale Monast., ed. 1819, ii. p. 185.

[415]Quoted by Michel from MSS. in the Imperial Library, Paris.

[416]This was a writ to the Aldermen and Sheriffs of the City of London, principally levelled against the dealings of “certain Frenchmen which were against the well-being of the trade of the Tapissiarii ... by petition of Parliament at Westminster.” Calend. Rot. Pat. Edward III., p. 148, “De Mysterâ Tapiciarorum,” Lond. M. 41.

[417]Called “verdures” in French inventories.

[418]Rock’s Introduction, p. lxxix.

[419]“The art of weaving tapestry was brought to England by William Sheldon, Esq., about the end of the reign of Henry VIII.”—See Dugdale’s “Warwickshire” (“Stemmata:” Sheldon), 2nd edition, folio, vol. i. p. 584; also Lloyd’s “State Worthies,” p. 953, quoted by Manning and Bray, “Hist. of Surrey,” vol. iii. p. 82. But we have an earlier notice of a spirited attempt to make fine tapestries at Kilkenny. Piers, Earl of Ormonde, married the daughter of Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare, “a person of great wisdom and courage.” They brought from Flanders and the neighbouring provinces artificers and manufacturers, whom they employed at Kilkenny in working tapestries, diaper, Turkey carpets, cushions, &c. Piers died 1539. Carte’s Introduction to the “Life of James, Duke of Ormonde,” vol. i. p. 93 (Oxford, 1851).

[420]William Sheldon at his own expense brought workmen from Flanders, and employed them in weaving maps of the different counties of England. Of these, three large maps, the earliest specimens, were purchased by the Earl of Orford (Horace Walpole), by whom they were given to Earl Harcourt. He had them repaired and cleaned, and made as fresh as when out of the loom, and eventually gave them to Gough, the antiquary, who bequeathed them to the University of Oxford. The Armada tapestry, which is stated to have been designed by Henry Cornelius Vroom, the Dutch marine painter, and woven by Francis Spiering, appears to have been, in 1602, in the possession of Lord Howard, Lord High Admiral and the hero of the Armada. Fuller particulars are given in Walpole’s “Anecdotes,” i. p. 246, under the name of Vroom, Sandart being the principal authority. Part of them were in the House of Lords till 1834, when they perished in the fire. These had been engraved in 1739 by John Pine, but it appears that at that time there were in the royal wardrobe other pieces, now lost.

[421]Lloyd’s “Worthies.”

[422]Calendar of State Papers, cx. No. 26, James I., 1619-23.

[423]Calendar of State Papers, vol. clxxxi. No. 48.

[424]Rymer, “Fœdera,” vol. viii. p. 66, ed. 1743.

[425]Brydges, “Northamptonshire,” i. p. 323, under the head of “Stoke Bruere,” pt. 1, p. 48.

[426]Manning and Bray’s “History of Surrey,” vol. iii. p. 302.

[427]Horace Walpole, “Anecdotes of Painting in England,” vol. ii. p. 22.

[428]Macpherson, “Annals of Commerce.”

[429]There is in Brydges’ “Northamptonshire,” under the head of “Stoke Bruere” (the estate which King James gave to Sir F. Crane as part payment of the deficit of £16,400 in his tapestry business), mention of the cartoons of “Raphael of Urbin, ... had from Genoa,” and their cost, £300, besides the transport. M. Blanc says, with great justness, that Raphael, when he prepared these cartoons for tapestry, made designs for weaving, anddid not paint pictures. If they had been intended for oil pictures, they would have been very differently treated.

[430]Calendar State Papers, Domestic, Sept. 28th, 1653.

[431]Horace Walpole’s “Anecdotes of Painting,” vol. iii. p. 64.

[432]See Evelyn’s very scarce tract, entitled “Mundus Muliebris,” printed 1690, p. 8.

[433]Lord Tyrconnell, Lord Exeter, and Lord Guildford had married three of the Brownlow heiresses of Belton, who had a winter residence at Stamford.

[434]Designed by Francesco Zuccharelli. Rock, Introduction, p. cxiv.

[435]It has been at different periods the crowning glory of the craft of the weaver to place different patterns or pictures on the two sides of the web. This would almost appear to be impossible, but that it has been done in late years, according to Rock, who tells us that he saw a banner so woven, with the Austrian eagle on one side and the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception on the other. He says that the same manufacturer was then being employed in producing ecclesiastical garments with the colours and patterns so varied.

[436]In old tapestries three tints only were employed for the complexions of men, women, and children—the man’s reddish, the woman’s yellow, and the child’s whiter than either. It is an agreeable economy of colours, simple and effective, and avoids the pictorial imitation that one deprecates. See M. Charles Blanc’s “Grammaire des Arts Décoratifs: Tapisserie,” p. 112.

[437]The poet here refers to H.R.H. the Princess Christian.

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