Butterworth-Heinemann Series in Conservation and Museology

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T ^APESTRY

C ONSERVATION

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Butterworth-Heinemann Series in Conservation and Museology

Series Editor: Andrew Oddy

British Museum, London

Consultants: Sir Bernard Feilden Director Emeritus, ICCROM Page Ayres Cowley

Conservation Architect, New York David Bomford

National Gallery, London John Fidler

English Heritage, London C.V. Horie

Manchester Museum, University of Manchester Sarah Staniforth

National Trust, London Jeanne Marie Teutonico

The Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles

Published titles: Architectural Tiles: Conservation and Restoration (Durbin)

Chemical Principles of Textile Conservation (Timár-Balázsy, Eastop) Conservation and Restoration of Ceramics (Buys, Oakley)

Conservation of Building and Decorative Stone (Ashurst, Dime) Conservation of Furniture (Rivers, Umney)

Conservation of Historic Buildings (Feilden)

Conservation of Leather and Related Materials (Kite, Thomson) A History of Architectural Conservation ( Jokilehto)

Lacquer: Technology and Conservation (Webb) The Museum Environment, 2nd edition (Thomson)

Radiography of Cultural Materials, 2nd edition (Lang, Middleton) Tapestry Conservation: Principles and Practice (Lennard, Hayward) The Textile Conservator’s Manual, 2nd edition (Landi)

Upholstery Conservation: Principles and Practice (Gill, Eastop)

Related titles: Contemporary Theory of Conservation (MuÒoz-Vinas Digital Collections (Keene)

Digital Heritage: Applying Digital Imaging to Cultural Heritage (MacDonald) Fragments of the World: Uses of Museum Collections (Keene)

Historic Floors (Fawcett)

Managing Conservation in Museums (Keene) Materials for Conservation (Horie)

The National Trust Manual of Housekeeping

Natural Materials: Sources, Properties and Uses (DeMouthe) Organic Chemistry of Museum Objects (Mills, White)

Pigment Compendium: Dictionary (Eastaugh, Walsh, Siddall, Chaplin)

Pigment Compendium: Optical Microscopy (Eastaugh, Walsh, Siddall, Chaplin) Pigment Compendium CD (Eastaugh, Walsh, Siddall, Chaplin)

Restoration of Motion Picture Film (Read, Meyer) Risk Assessment for Object Conservation (Ashley-Smith) Structural Aspects of Building Conservation (Beckman, Bowles)

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Frances Lennard • Maria Hayward

o~;~;n~~;up

LONDON AND NEW YORK

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First published by Butterworth-Heinemann First published 2006

This edition published 2011 by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

The rights of Frances Lennard and Maria Hayward to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England W1 T 4LP. Applications for the copyright holder's written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN-13: 978-0-7506-6184-3

ISBN-10: 0-7506-6184-4

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Dinah Eastop, MA, FIIC, ACR, ILTM, Senior Lecturer and Associate Director of the AHRC Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studies

in recognition of her unfailing support of research and publication in the field of textile conservation

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Foreword

by Wendy Hefford and Karen Finch ix

Editors’ preface xi

Acknowledgements xiii

Picture credits xv

List of contributors xvii

Tapestry timeline xxiii

Maria Hayward

Part One: Context 1

1. The art of tapestry conservation 3 Frances Lennard

2. Fit for a king? Maintaining the early

Tudor tapestry collection 13

Maria Hayward

3. The survival of Henry VIII’s History of Abrahamtapestries: an account of how they were perceived, used and treated over the

centuries 20

Jenny Band

4. Changing approaches to tapestry conservation: the conservation of a set of seven eighteenth-century tapestries 28 Lynsay Shephard

Part Two: Documentation and

analysis of materials 37

5. The truth will out: the value of tapestry

documentation 39

Maria Hayward and Ksynia Marko

6. Instrumental analysis of metal threads as an aid for interpretation and preservation of a fifteenth-century tapestry altar frontal

and super frontal 48

Cordelia Rogerson and Paul Garside

Part Three: Cleaning 57

7. Comments on tapestry wet cleaning 59 David Howell

8. A brief history of tapestry wet cleaning systems at the Victoria and Albert

Museum 62

Frances Hartog and Albertina Cogram 9. Chevalier Conservation: past and present

developments in the cleaning of tapestries 68 Susanne Cussell

10. Cleaning antique and modern tapestries by aerosol suction: thirteen years later – the characteristics, comparative advantages and

limitations of this system 74

Yvan Maes De Wit

11. Non-aqueous cleaning 81

Frances Lennard

Part Four: Treatment options 89 (a) Support systems

12. Development of a couching technique for the treatment of historic tapestries 91 Danielle Bosworth and Caroline Clark

13. A grid support for The Lamentation

tapestry 97

Frances Lennard and Michelle Harper

Three things make or mar a tapestry – design, crafts- manship and condition. Many tapestries were designed by leading artists of their day, such as Bernard van Orley, Raphael, Rubens, Le Brun and Boucher. With no less artistry, weavers translated the style of the designer faithfully. Highly-paid specialists, weaving flesh, faces and hair, overcame constraints of their medium to achieve likenesses that caused uni- versal admiration and could deceive an onlooker into thinking a woven portrait was a painting. Silk and wool dyed in brilliant colours and subtle shades, though uniformly tapestry woven, were mingled with such skill that they seemed like velvet, satin, fur, shot or watered silk, damask or transparent veils. Surfaces of silver, glass or stone were realistically rendered in tapestry; even the luminosity of the sky was success- fully evoked. But all that beauty could be destroyed by constant use, resulting in fading, degradation of fibre and hazards of major damage and repair. For a tapestry to survive, not only careful treatment but skilled remedial work was, and is, essential.

In the past, workshops weaving new tapestries made a considerable part of their income repairing existing tapestries that were privately owned. For the royal tapestries in England, Great Wardrobe accounts show how they were cleaned, repaired and lined by a permanent staff of arras workers and tapestry taylors.

Detailed accounts reveal large sums spent on materials for repairs, shown to involve reweaving by payments for warp and occasionally ‘for painting the design’ to fill substantial holes. Up to the eighteenth century, however, such reweaving was performed by men who had served a seven-year apprenticeship learning their trade and spent their lives practising it. Original cartoons, or tapestries of the same design, were often available for copying to recreate missing areas.

This relatively happy state of affairs lasted while tapestry was valued as a major furnishing, in spite of fluctuations in fashion for different styles. By the later eighteenth century, however, tastes changed so radically that far fewer new tapestries were being made, and fewer old ones were in use. Eventually, tapestry workshops closed and skills were lost. The Great Wardrobe itself was abolished in 1782. When, by the end of the nineteenth century, tapestry once more had a commercial value, it began to be sold with increasing frequency; and to make the hangings serviceable they were often ‘restored’ by workers with no idea of how the damaged tapestry originally looked or with what subtleties it had been woven.

Not until the second half of the twentieth century was there a revolution in tapestry conservation, with an approach based on scientific and artistic education, seeking better ways to preserve and protect these vulnerable, irreplaceable works of art.

This wide-ranging book with contributions from experienced conservators shows what advances have been made and what problems inevitably remain, as the study and practice of tapestry conservation enter the twenty-first century.

Karen Finch

Like my fellow students at the Kunsthaandvaerker- skole in Copenhagen, I was taught the technique of tapestry weaving by Gerda Henning, herself an artist whose work holds an honoured place in the Danish Museum of the Decorative Arts, where our school – also her creation – was housed.

Her teaching instilled in us respect for the long traditions of the art of weaving; and it determined my attitude to the sad specimens of worn and tattered, but once beautiful tapestries that I came to

Foreword

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encounter in the workrooms of the Royal School of Needlework and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). I knew right away that some of their beauty would still be there, waiting to be reclaimed.

At the V&A, the Keeper of the Textile Depart- ment, George Wingfield Digby, allowed me to prove my belief by unpicking the darning covering a seventeenth-century French tapestry (T 125 –1931) and then supporting the weak remains on heavy linen lining material, undeterred by the fact that to the dealers, who advised on insurance, this would proclaim repair and therefore lower value.

Close up, no design was visible, but the memory of it was held by the still firm warp thread, so when these were couched into place with neutral coloured embroidery silk, the design was revealed as a distant townscape above a wooded foreground.

The warps of this tapestry were whole, even if worn. Commissions in my Ealing workroom often had large chunks cut away, leaving unsightly holes, difficult to camouflage. This was dealt with by a gifted colleague, Danielle Bosworth. She laid new warps, dyed to match the old, on the patches under the gaps and found the information available to use colour indications to suggest the missing details of the design. Danielle taught her techniques to our students, while always following the rules of minimal – and reversible – intervention.

A good friend, a paintings conservator, told us that he did not like tapestries because ‘the drawing is so bad’. We pondered this and realised that he could not have seen a tapestry with no repairs, so we invited him to the nearest tapestry gallery. Unhappily, to no avail, since none of the tapestries there were in their original condition.

All of these experiences added strength to our resolve to develop means to preserve the fine tapestries that still grace the great houses for which they were woven or that are treasured in our museums.

Tapestry conservators have come a long way from these beginnings, as witnessed by the many contributors to this book. Tapestries can now be safely cleaned with great benefits to their colours, but we still need a better understanding of the long-term effects of new materials and support techniques on weak and worn fibres, and to generate the knowledge that tapestries depend on stable environmental conditions for their survival.

Tapestry Conservation: Principles and Practiceshould benefit all with an interest in tapestries and their care;

not only owners, historians and tapestry conservators but also designers of modern interiors, who may be inspired to design new, lightly undulating pictorial textiles for their clients.

x Foreword

Karen Finch at the Textile Conservation Centre at Hampton Court Palace in the early 1980s.

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This book is not a technical manual on how to conserve tapestries, rather it seeks to provide an analysis of how tapestry conservation techniques have evolved over the centuries. Treatment began with the practices established within the Great Wardrobe by the late Middle Ages to care for the English royal collection, and disseminated to noble households, originally based on cleaning with ‘bread and brushes’

and reweaving areas of loss. It evolved into tapestry conservation as it exists today, which in the UK developed in the 1960s and 1970s with the pio- neering work of among others, Karen Finch and Danielle Bosworth, continued by Caroline Clark,

at the Textile Conservation Centre. This long- standing pattern of caring for tapestries can be seen throughout Europe and in America, where different techniques have evolved. Developments in the field of tapestry conservation are ongoing as shown by the Europe-wide project Monitoring of damage to historic tapestries(see Chapter 30). Modern research is often interdisciplinary, as demonstrated by the successful collaboration between conservators and engineers (see Chapter 31).

The chapters are grouped thematically: context, documentation, cleaning, treatment options (sub- divided in turn into support systems, image reinte- gration and different approaches), maintenance and display, and current research projects. While some subjects such as lining or hanging mechanisms do not have a specific section, they form a recurrent theme.

The question of specialist terminology and how it is used has been addressed in the glossary and we have sought to ensure a consistent use of terms throughout the text. The glossary, along with Chapters 1 and 12, addresses the structure of tapestry weaving, while an introduction to the history of tapestry weaving is provided by the timeline. The book seeks to be representative of conservation practice within the major studios in the UK and this work is set in context by a group of comparative studies from America and mainland Europe. These chapters bring out a number of issues related to the ways in which tapestries are perceived as art objects, and how they have been collected and displayed.

The chapters have been edited to avoid repetition of recurring issues such as why conservators use stranded cotton to couch areas of silk weft. A number of the chapters include case histories to illustrate their particular theme and these have been edited to focus upon the issue in point rather than to cover all facets of the treatment.

Editors’ preface

Lynsay Shephard stitching on a tapestry frame at Hampton Court Palace.

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We would like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Research Centre for Textile Con- servation and Textile Studies (2002 –7) for support while working on this publication. The book itself forms one of the Research Centre’s milestones and its publication fulfils the Centre’s aim to consider textiles on long-term open display in country houses and museums. Dinah Eastop must be credited and thanked for suggesting the initial idea for this book and for developing the book proposal. Dinah also compiled the index.

We would also like to thank Nell Hoare, Director of the Textile Conservation Centre, University of Southampton, for her support during the course of this project and for permission to publish material relating to tapestries conserved at the TCC. We acknowledge all of the hard work of TCC colleagues, past and present, who have undertaken the conservation of a number of the tapestries discussed in this book and who are acknowledged personally in the relevant chapters.

We owe our biggest debt to Christine Bennett and Mike Halliwell, without whose help with the editorial process and the images, this book would have been much the poorer. Other TCC colleagues who played an invaluable role include Amber Rowe, Paul Wyeth and Andrea Poole.

Grateful thanks also go to Ksynia Marko, Lynsay Shephard and Michelle Harper for their work on the editorial board which discussed the proposed contents and contributors with the editors. The book has benefited greatly from their extensive knowledge and experience of tapestry conservation.

We are also indebted to Karen Finch and Wendy Hefford for their encouragement throughout this project and for contributing the Foreword. We also wish to thank our contributors without whom this book would not have happened. Finally, we would like to acknowledge all the hard work and encouragement provided by Stephani Havard, our editor at Elsevier, and all her editorial team who have brought this book to fruition.

Acknowledgements

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Cover images: National Museums Liverpool (The Walker).

Foreword: © Textile Conservation Centre.

Editor’s preface: Crown copyright: Historic Royal Palaces. Reproduced with kind permission of the Royal Collection.

Chapter 1

Figure 1.1 reproduced by kind permission of the Duke of Buccleuch & Queensbury, KT. © Textile Conservation Centre; Figure 1.2 Line drawing by Mike Halliwell © Textile Conservation Centre;

Figure 1.3 Steve Speller © West Dean Tapestry Studio; Figure 1.4 with kind permission of the Wernher Foundation, English Heritage. © Textile Conservation Centre; Figure 1.5 reproduced with permission of the Henry Moore Foundation. © Textile Conservation Centre; Figure 1.6 Marta Rogoyska. © Textile Conservation Centre.

Chapter 2

Figure 2.1 Crown Copyright: Historic Royal Palaces.

Reproduced with kind permission of the Royal Collection.

Chapter 3

Figure 3.1 © The Prince de Ligne; Figures 3.2, 3.3, 3.4 Crown Copyright: Historic Royal Palaces.

Chapter 4

Figures 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5 Crown Copyright:

Historic Royal Palaces. Reproduced with kind permission of the Royal Collection.

Chapter 5

Figure 5.1 reproduced by kind permission of the Duke of Buccleuch & Queensbury, KT. © Textile Conservation Centre; Figures 5.2 and 5.5 with

thanks to the National Trust; Figure 5.3 with kind permission of the Wernher Foundation, English Heritage. © Textile Conservation Centre; Figure 5.4 with thanks to the National Trust. © Textile Conser- vation Centre.

Chapter 6

Figures 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4 reproduced with permission of the Whitworth Art Gallery. © Textile Conser- vation Centre.

Chapter 7

Figure 7.1 Crown Copyright: Historic Royal Palaces.

Chapter 8

Figures 8.1, 8.2, 8.3 published with the kind permission of the Board of Trustees of the V&A.

Chapter 9

Figures 9.1 and 9.2 © Théo Baulig/Chevalier Conservation.

Chapter 10

Figures 10.1 and 10.2 © De Wit; Figures 10.3 and 10.4 by permission of the National Trust, Hardwick Hall, Devonshire Collection. © De Wit.

Chapter 11

Figures 11.1 and 11.6 by kind permission of the Chapter of Peterborough Cathedral. © Textile Conservation Centre; Figures 11.2, 11.3, 11.4 reproduced with permission of the client © Textile Conservation Centre; Figure 11.5 Permission of Trustees of the Weston Park Foundation © Textile Conservation Centre.

Chapter 12

Figure 12.1 © V&A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum. Figures 12.2 and 12.3 by permission of

Picture credits

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xvi Picture credits

the National Trust, Hardwick Hall, Devonshire Collection.

Chapter 13

Figures 13.1, 13.2, 13.3 with kind permission of the Wernher Foundation, English Heritage.

Chapter 14

Figures 14.1 and 14.2 © De Wit.

Chapter 15

Figures 15.1 and 15.2 Textile Conservation Consul- tancy workshop; Figure 15.3 private collection.

Chapter 16

Figures 16.1 and 16.4 by kind permission of the trustees of the Wallace Collection. © Textile Con- servation Centre; Figures 16.2, 16.3, 16.5, 16.6 and 16.7 © Kathryn Gill, Textile Conservation Centre.

Chapter 17

Figures 17.1, 17.2, 17.3 by permission of the National Trust, Petworth House.

Chapter 18

Figures 18.1, 18.2, 18.3, 18.4 © The National Trust.

Chapter 19

Figures 19.1 and 19.2 President and Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford. © Textile Conservation Centre; Figures 19.3 and 19.4 reproduced with permission of the client. © Textile Conservation Centre; Figure 19.5 © Textile Conservation Centre.

Chapter 20

Figures 20.1, 20.2, 20.3, 20.4 Chevalier Conser- vation, Paris and Aubusson.

Chapter 21

Figures 21.1, 21.2, 21.3 Metropolitan Museum of Art, Medieval Art Collection; Figure 21.4 Metro- politan Museum of Art, The Cloisters Collection.

Chapter 22

Figures 22.1, 22.2, 22.3 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. Figure 22.3 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. Photograph by Richard Lingner.

Chapter 23

Figures 23.1, 23.2, 23.3, 23.4 Wawel Castle.

Chapter 24

Figures 24.1, 24.2, 24.3, 24.4 Bayerisches National- museum Munich.

Chapter 25

Figures 25.1 and 25.2 with the kind permission of the Museo Diocesano di Ancona.

Chapter 26

Figures 26.1, 26.2, 26.3, 26.4 Images courtesy of English Heritage. © Textile Conservation Centre.

Chapter 27

Figures 27.1, 27.2, 27.3, 27.4 with thanks to the National Trust.

Chapter 28

Figure 28.1 with thanks to the National Trust;

Figures 28.2, 28.3, 28.4 with thanks to the National Trust, Dyrham Park. Fiona Hutton and Frances Lennard, Textile Conservation. Figure 28.5 Photo- graph by Cristian Barnett.

Chapter 29

Figures 29.1 and 29.2 Photographs by Paul Robins,

Chapter 30

Figure 30.1 Image courtesy of Historic Royal Palaces.

Chapter 31

Figures 31.1, 31.2, 31.3, 31.4, 31.5, 31.6 Line draw- ings by Melin Sahin.

Glossary

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Ronnee Barnett

Ronnee Barnett, Associate Conservator, has been restoring tapestries at the Textile Conservation Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1991. Among other projects, she has been sole restorer of Noli Me Tangere, the fifth fragment in the Hunt of the Frail Stagseries, and is presently restoring the third tapestry of the Courtiers in a Rose Gardenseries.

Jenny Band

Jenny Band gained a BA specialising in tapestry in 1972 and undertook an apprenticeship with the last Morris & Co restorers at Hampton Court from 1976 – 8. In 1980 she assumed the management of the Hampton Court tapestry and furnishings workshops, changing the working ethos to conservation, and amalgamating them to form the Textile Con- servation Studio and research laboratory. In 2002, Jenny was appointed Conservation Advisor to the Historic Royal Palaces. She is now a freelance con- sultant working on historic interiors, undertaking research and lecturing.

A. Alice Blohm

Alice Blohm, Associate Conservator, Department of Textile Conservation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, has assisted in the technical analysis of the publication, Medieval Tapestries in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Adolpho S. Cavallo. Presently, she is restoring a medieval tapestry. She has a Certificate in Tapestry Weaving from West Dean College, England.

Danielle Bosworth

Danielle Bosworth studied art embroidery and restoration in Paris. She worked as a textile restorer at Maison Brocard, Paris. In 1965, she joined Karen Finch at her London studio as a freelance conservator. The studio moved to Hampton Court Palace when the Textile Conservation Centre was established in 1975, where she was employed as Senior Conservator/ Tutor until 1982. Danielle set up her own studio in North West London in 1983. She also taught textile conservation at the Institut Français pour la Restauration des Oeuvres d’Art in Paris for four years. She moved her studio to Dorset in 1999.

Laura Bosworth

Laura Bosworth studied History of Art and French at the University of Sussex. She joined Danielle Bosworth’s private studio in North West London in 1990 and completed a four-year in-house training programme in textile conservation. She moved to Dorset with the studio in 1999 where she specialises in tapestry conservation.

André Brutillot

Born in La Chaux de Gilley, France, André Brutillot graduated from the University of Besançon. In 1975 he started an apprenticeship in Munich with a freelance textile conservator. In 1979 he started working part-time at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum and part-time as a freelance conservator. Work at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum includes the storage and documentation of c. 150 tapestries from the collection and the conservation of two tapestries from

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The Life of the Apostle Paul, Brussels, c. 1550 by Peter Coecke van Aelst.

Alan Chambers

Alan Chambers, PhD, is Senior Lecturer in Materials Engineering at the School of Engineering Sciences, University of Southampton. He has expertise in composite materials and damage detection techniques.

Caroline Clark

Caroline Clark took a one-year diploma course in Tapestry Weaving at West Dean College (1975 –76).

She was employed by the Textile Conservation Centre as an apprentice in Tapestry Conservation (1976 –78), Conservator (1978 –79), Head of Tapestry Conservation Department (1979 – 88 and 1992 – 94), and Head of Conservation Services (1988 – 92). Since 1996 she has worked part-time as an independent conservator and, from 2002, also part-time with Danielle and Laura Bosworth in Dorset.

Albertina Cogram

Albertina Cogram gained a City and Guilds Certifi- cate in Conservation and Restoration Studies from Lincoln College of Art in 1981. This was followed by voluntary work and then employment in the Conservation Department of the Horniman Museum, London. In 1985 she joined the Textile Conservation Studio, Hampton Court Palace working mainly on tapestries. In 1988 she joined the Textile Conservation section of the Victoria and Albert Museum taking up a post as a tapestry conservator.

Kathrin Colburn

Kathrin Colburn, conservator, joined the Metro- politan Museum of Art in 1990. She is responsible for the conservation of textiles belonging to the Department of Medieval Art and the Cloisters.

Prior to her appointment at the Metropolitan, she worked at the Cleveland Museum of Art. She received her training at the Abegg-Stiftung in Switzerland.

Susanne Cussell

Susanne Bouret, née Cussell, graduated from the Textile Conservation Centre, Hampton Court Palace in 1989. After working with Kysnia Marko at the Textile Conservation Studios in Limehouse, she took an internship at the Musée des Tissus, Lyon, France. In 1991 she joined Chevalier Conservation where she was responsible for setting up and run- ning the Aubusson studios until 2002. Currently on sabbatical leave, she teaches tapestry conservation theory at the restoration/conservation department of the Institut National du Patrimoine and lectures at the University of Clermont Ferrand.

Leonidas Dokos

Leo Dokos is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow; he is co-located in the School of Engineering Sciences and the Textile Conservation Centre, University of Southampton. He has experience in the application of optical strain sensors to structures.

Janice Dulieu-Barton

Janice Dulieu-Barton, PhD, is a Reader in Experi- mental Mechanics, at the School of Engineering Sciences, University of Southampton. She has around 15 years’ experience in material testing, strain meas- urement and non-destructive evaluation.

Jacqueline Earl

Jacqueline Earl, PhD, is a Research Fellow in Ship Science, at the School of Engineering Sciences, University of Southampton, with expertise in testing and evaluation of composite materials and structures.

Dinah Eastop

Dinah Eastop is Senior Lecturer at the Textile Conservation Centre, University of Southampton and Associate Director of the AHRC Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studies. She has worked in the heritage conservation sector since 1976 and has a special interest in developing the principles and practice of textile conservation via the integration of both the physical and social sciences.

xviii List of contributors

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After training as a weaver in Denmark, Karen Finch worked at the Royal School of Needlework where she became involved with tapestry conservation.

Then, in 1954, she joined the Art Work Room at the Victoria and Albert Museum, soon to be renamed the conservation department, before establishing her own workshop in Ealing, London.

She was founder of the Textile Conservation Centre and its Principal from 1975 to 1986.

Kathy Francis

Kathy Francis presently works as a freelance textile conservator in Summit, New Jersey. From 1995 to 2002 she was Senior Conservator for Textiles at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. From 1988 to 1994 she served as Chief Conservator of the Textile Conservation Center. She holds a BS in Clothing and Textiles from Framingham State College.

Tess Fredette

Tess Fredette is Associate Textile Conservator at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. From 1996 to 2003 she was Assistant Conservator at the Textile Conservation Center and a principal member of the tapestry conservation team. She holds a BFA in Fiber Art from the Massachusetts College of Art and an MS in textiles from the University of Rhode Island.

Paul Garside

Paul Garside received an MChem from the University of Southampton, where he remained to study for a PhD. He subsequently joined the AHRC Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studies. His current research involves the development of techniques to investigate the chemical and microstructural properties of natural and synthetic fibres, with the aim of informing textile conservation treatments.

Kathryn Gill

After gaining a BA (Hons) in Textiles and Fashion at Manchester Polytechnic, Kate trained and worked

conservation at the Textile Conservation Centre, Hampton Court Palace. In 1984 Kate moved to the USA to set up the upholstery conservation section at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After seven years as Senior Upholstery Conservator, she took a post at the Textile Conservation Centre, University of Southampton. Kate is Senior Conservator and Lecturer, combining practical conservation (textiles and upholstered furniture) with teaching and research.

She is principal contributor to and co-editor (with Dinah Eastop) of Upholstery Conservation: Principles and Practice(2001).

Kathryn Hallett

Kathryn Hallett is Senior Conservation Scientist at Historic Royal Palaces. After training as a conservator at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, she gained a Masters degree in Conservation Science from the Royal College of Art/Victoria and Albert Museum joint course, in collaboration with the British Museum.

Bonnie Halvorson

Bonnie Halvorson has worked at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum since 1997 and is a Senior Conservator of Textiles. Her background includes tapestry conservation experience from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York City. She graduated with an MS in textile conservation from the University of Alberta, Canada in 1991.

Michelle Harper

Michelle Harper (BA Hons) completed a three-year postgraduate diploma in textile conservation at the Textile Conservation Centre (TCC), Courtauld Institute of Art in 1995. She worked for a year at the National Trust Textile Conservation Studio, Norfolk and then joined the Conservation Services department of the TCC in 1996. Michelle has recently worked as project manager on a variety of large English Heritage projects, specialising in tapestry conservation.

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Frances Hartog

In 1989, Frances Hartog began a three-year apprenticeship in textile conservation at the Textile Conservation Studio in London, focusing mainly on tapestry conservation. From 1992 to 1994 she worked at the Textile Conservation Centre predominantly in the tapestry department. The following two years were spent at the Museum of London fulfilling con- tracts for a costume exhibition and displays. In 1996 she joined the National Trust’s Textile Conservation Studio, Norfolk. Two years later she took up her present post as senior textile conservator in the Conservation Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Maria Hayward

Maria Hayward, PhD, gained the postgraduate diploma in Textile Conservation in 1990 and subsequently worked at the Textile Conservation Centre as a conservator. She is currently a Reader and Head of Studies and Research at the Textile Conservation Centre, University of Southampton and Director of the AHRC Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studies. In 2004 she published The 1542 Inventory of Whitehall: The Palace and its Keeper and was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. She is currently working on two books, Dress at the Court of Henry VIII and Rich Apparel: Dress in Henry VIII’s England.

Wendy Hefford

Wendy Hefford read History at Oxford and then joined the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1960, later becoming a Research Assistant in the Department of Textiles. She went on to become the expert on tapestries in the Department of Textiles, Furnishing and Dress. She is now a freelance tapestry historian.

Jerzy Holc

Jerzy Holc has held the post of Head of Textile Conservation Studio at Wawel Royal Castle in Krakow for 14 years. He began studies in Art History at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow in 1987. Whilst there, he began an internship at the Textile Conservation Studio at the Wawel Royal Castle. Upon completing his MA degree in Art History he remained employed there as a textile

conservator and took over the role of Department Head in 1990.

David Howell

David Howell trained as a chemist, spent some time in industry and studied English Mediaeval Studies before entering the conservation profession. During twenty years at Historic Royal Palaces, he gained an international reputation in research in textile conservation. He was coordinator of a major European funded research project, ‘Monitoring of Damage to Historic Tapestries’ and led the development of the unique washing facility at Hampton Court Palace.

David has moved to Oxford University Library Service where he is now Deputy Head of Conser- vation and Collections Care.

Fiona Hutton

Having served an apprenticeship at the TCC under Karen Finch, Fiona Hutton built up her experience with Ksynia Marko at the Textile Conservation Studio in London before moving to the South West of England. There she established Textile Conser- vation with Frances Lennard. She continued to offer conservation services throughout the South West until her untimely death in May 2005.

Tina Kane

Tina Kane, conservator, began working in the Textile Conservation Department at the Metropolitan Museum in 1978. She is a specialist in the restoration of medieval tapestry. She received an MA in Comparative Literature from the University of California, Berkeley, USA, and has published articles on tapestry and other subjects.

Claudia Kusch

Claudia Kusch trained as a tapestry weaver with Professor Silvio Grossi at the Vatican Laboratories, followed by training as a textile conservator at the Abegg-Stiftung, Switzerland. Since the mid eighties, she has worked as a freelance textile conservator in Italy, where she set up the workshop ‘Arakhne’, specialising in tapestry conservation. Currently, beside Arakhne’s projects, she collaborates with the Vatican Museums and the Istituto per il Restauro di Roma.

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Sheila Landi’s early education and training was centred on fine art followed by a variety of jobs in teaching, design and manufacture, all of which proved useful in a career in conservation that began in 1963.

Largely self-trained while working in the Textile Conservation Section of the Victoria and Albert Museum, she became Head of Section in 1972, remaining in post until her official retirement in 1989, when the Textile Conservation Consultancy was established. The studio moved to Burghley House, Stamford in 1992. Her chief publication is the The Textile Conservator’s Manual.

Rachel Langley

Rachel Langley has worked at the National Trust’s Textile Conservation Studio since 1993. She trained as an Apprentice in Tapestry Conservation at the Textile Conservation Centre, Hampton Court (1989 – 92) and began her career as a Textile Conservator in the Tapestry Department of the Textile Conservation Centre, Hampton Court (1992 –93) before joining the National Trust.

Frances Lennard

Frances Lennard gained the Postgraduate Diploma in Textile Conservation awarded by the Textile Conservation Centre (TCC) & The Courtauld Insti- tute of Art in 1985. She worked for the Conservation Services Department of the TCC until 1990, then moved to the South West of England to work as a freelance textile conservator in partnership with Fiona Hutton; she was Chair of the United Kingdom Institute for Conservation (UKIC) Textile Section from 1994 to 1997. She returned to the TCC in 2001 where she is Convenor of the MA Textile Conservation programme.

Yvan Maes De Wit

Starting in 1968, Yvan Maes De Wit received training as a master weaver and restorer from his grandfather, Gaspard De Wit. Between 1969 and 1973 he studied History of Art followed by Business and Admin- istration at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. Between 1975 and 1976 he was president of the ‘Cultural Commission’, AGL at the Catholic

History of Art dissertation at the Musée des Tissus in Lyon, France. Since 1980, he has been manager of the Royal Manufacturers De Wit.

Ksynia Marko

Ksynia Marko has been working in the field of textile conservation for over thirty years. She began her training in 1973, first with Karen Finch and then with Sheila Landi at the Victoria and Albert Museum where she became Senior Textile Conservator responsible for tapestry conservation. She ran her own studio in London for eleven years, before joining the National Trust in 1991 as manager of the Textile Conservation Studio at Blickling, Norfolk. In 1995 she became the Trust’s Textile Conservation Adviser, caring for over 50 000 textiles including 500 tapestries.

Boris Pretzel

Boris Pretzel was born in West Berlin. He graduated from Bristol University with a BSc, followed by an MSc and a term as researcher. Subsequently, he worked in the European Patent Office in The Hague and Berlin, with responsibility for solid-state physics devices, manufacturing and materials. Since 1989, he has been the Materials Scientist in the Victoria and Albert Museum Conservation Department’s Science Section. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Cultural Heritage, European Chair of IRUG (the Infrared and Raman Users Group), and a chartered physicist.

Cordelia Rogerson

After taking a History of Art degree, Cordelia Rogerson trained and worked as a textile conservator at the Textile Conservation Centre, University of Southampton, and is presently a lecturer in the Studies and Research Department. In addition, she currently holds a research conservator post at the TCC as part of the AHRC Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studies, and is a PhD candidate at the Royal College of Art.

Melin Sahin

Melin Sahin is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow; he is co-located in the School of Engineering Sciences

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and the Textile Conservation Centre, University of Southampton. He has a special interest in experi- mental vibration analysis, structural health monitoring and damage identification.

Philippa Sanders

Philippa Sanders has worked at the National Trust’s Textile Conservation Studio since 1992. She gained a Diploma in Textile Conservation from the Textile Conservation Centre, Hampton Court (1989 – 92) and began her career as a Textile Conservator when she joined the National Trust in 1992. In 1996 she was a team member of the runner-up project for the Jerwood Foundation Award.

Midori Sato

Midori Sato, Conservator, began working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the conservation of four large hangings in the Museum’s Louis XIV bedroom in l986. Since then, she has contributed to many projects including the restoration of the tapestry series, Courtiers in a Rose Garden. She works on the conservation of textiles from the Asian Art and Ancient Near East Departments.

Lynsay Shephard

Lynsay Shephard completed a two-year apprenticeship in Tapestry Restoration at Hampton Court in 1980, after which she continued to specialise in tapestry conservation and was instrumental in the development of conservation practices at Hampton Court.

She was Head of Tapestry Conservation at Hampton Court until 2004. Lynsay is now working in private practice and continues to lecture and teach.

Karen Thompson

Karen Thompson graduated from Manchester Polytechnic in 1990 with a BA (Hons) in History of

Design. She completed her postgraduate training in Textile Conservation at the Textile Conservation Centre, Hampton Court Palace in 1993. Since then she has carried out conservation for museums and private practice both in the UK and abroad. She is currently employed at the Textile Conservation Centre, University of Southampton and her areas of specialisation include tapestries, painted textiles, costume and accessories.

Cornelia Wild

Cornelia Wild attended the School of Fashion in Munich and then completed a dressmaking apprenticeship. She has worked as a freelance conservator for the Civic Gallery at Lenbachhaus and on the Munich Archiepiscopal chair. She has worked in the Bavarian palace conservation department since 1986. In 1992 she became head of the tapestry department with responsibility for one of the most important tapestry collections in Germany.

Deirdre Windsor

Deirdre Windsor is currently Principal of Windsor Conservation, in Dover, Massachusetts, USA. From 1995 to 2001 she was Director and Chief Conservator of the Textile Conservation Center, American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA, and managed the tapestry conservation team. She holds a BFA in Textile Design from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Florica Zaharia

Florica Zaharia, Acting Conservator in Charge, joined the Department of Textile Conservation of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1988. She has contributed to various tapestry conservation projects, including Courtiers in a Rose Garden and The Start of the Hunt of The Unicorn tapestry series. She holds a PhD in Visual Arts from the University of Art Nicolae Grigorescu in Bucharest.

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Major developments in tapestry weaving Tapestries cited in this book

11th century: the Cloth of St Gereon, Cologne 11th to 13th century: Baldishol, Norway 12th to 13th century: Halberstadt pieces

1302: the formation of the Corporation of Tapestry c.1375 – 80: The Apocalypseseries, Angers, woven by weavers as ‘tapissiers de la haute lisse’ in Paris Nicolas Bataille, Paris (5)

1422: only two master weavers in Paris 1420 –30: The Fabulous Beast, Upper Rhineland (21) 1425: the occupation of Paris by the English and the 1425: The Triumph of Fortitude, Brussels (12)

removal of the French court c.1450: Courtiers in a Rose Garden, Flemish (5, 21) c.1447: a dyer called Gobelin buys property on the banks 1450 –75: Praetexta, Germany (21)

of the Bièvre in the parish of Saint-Marcel, Paris 1460: The Story of Alexander the Great, Tournai (10) 1447: a tapestry guild established in Brussels c.1460: The Roman de la Rose, Tournai (5, 6, 12) 1449 –53: History of Gideonwoven for Philip the 1475 – 90: The War of Troy, Tournai (8, 10)

Good, Duke of Burgundy 1475 – 99: The Tree of Jesse, Cologne region, German (6) 1450 –51: first guild rules at Brussels c.1490 –1510: The Lord of the Vineyard, Flemish (19) 1466: Verdure with Arms of Burgundyby Jean de Haze, c.1488 –1501: Millefleurs with the Arms of John Dynham,

Brussels French or Flemish (5)

1476: victory of the painters’ guild of St Luke in 1500s: Anthony and Cleopatra, Brussels (5)

Brussels to secure their right to design tapestries 1500s: Fructus Belli, after cartoons by Giulio Romano, 1477: capture of Arras by Louis XI of France Brussels (20)

c.1480: History of the Trojan War, woven by Pasquier 1500s: October, Brussels (10)

Grenier, Tournai tapestry merchant 1500s: The Triumph of Fame, Brussels (10) c.1500: Brussels established as the centre of tapestry c.1500: Christ of the Mystic Winepress, South

production Netherlands (21)

c.1500: The Triumph of Christ, Brussels c.1500: La Chute des Idoles, possibly Flanders (14) 1519: Raphael’s Acts of the Apostlesset delivered by c.1500 –25: Esther Hearing of Haman’s Plot, Brussels (12)

Pieter van Aelst to the Vatican from Brussels c.1500 –30: Triumph of Eternity over Time, Flemish (8) (Continued) The aim of the timeline is to place the tapestries used to illustrate the chapters into the context of the key developments in tapestry weaving. The dates given for tapestry designs in the left-hand column are the dates for the initial design, rather than the period over which tapestries were woven from these cartoons. The num- bers in round brackets ( ) in the right-hand column refer to the chapter number in which the tapestries are discussed. Where authors are uncertain about the date for a tapestry, this has been reflected in the timeline by citing the whole century. The tapestries illustrated in the book are highlighted in bold.

Tapestry timeline

Maria Hayward

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Major developments in tapestry weaving Tapestries cited in this book

1522: tapestries over a certain size to carry the 1510 –15: Pannos d’Oroset, Brussels (14)

Brussels’ mark of a red shield flanked by two red Bs 1510 –20: The Landlord and the Woodcutters, Tournai (22) c.1530: The Battle of Pavia, woven for Charles V 1510 –25: Esther Fainting before Ahasuerus, from the Story c.1535 – 40: The Story of Jacob, by Bernaert van Orley, of Esther, Brussels (22)

first woven by Willem de Kempereer, Brussels 1515 –25: The Story of David and Bathsheba, Brussels(14) c.1535: The Story of Romulus and Remusseries, Brussels c.1520: The Reception with Nuptial Banquetand The c.1535: The Story of Cyrusseries, Brussels Nuptial Processionfrom The Priamoseries, Flemish (25) 1541: tapestries over a certain size to carry the 1525 –30: Los Honoresseries, Brussels (14)

weaver’s mark, Brussels 1525 –50: The Education of the Prince of Peace, Tournai (22) 1548 –53: The Conquest of Tunisseries, designed by c.1530 – 40: The Hunts of Maximilian, designed by

Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen, in the workshop of Bernard van Orley, woven in the workshop of Willem de Pannemaker, Brussels, woven for Charles V Jan Ghieteels, Brussels, for Charles V (5)

1548 – 60: Cornelius Floris produced the first designs 1530 –50: The Conversion of the Apostle Paul, from for verdures incorporating mythical figures in The Life of the Apostle Paul, after design by Pieter

decorative metalwork Coecke van Aelst, Brussels (24)

c.1550: William Sheldon’s tapestry workshop 1535 –50: The Life of Saul, Brussels (18)

established in Warwickshire c.1543 – 44: The History of Abrahamby van Orley, c.1550: The Story of Moses, by Bernaert van Orley, Coexie and Coeke (2, 3)

Brussels 1545: The Story of Moses, Brussels (14)

c.1550 – 60: the large leaf verdure or feuilles de choux, c.1550: St Paul before Porcius Festus, Brussels (10) Flemish, especially Grammont and Oudenaarde c.1550: The Lamentation, Brussels (13)

c.1555: The Story of Cyrusseries, Michel Coxcie, Brussels c.1550: Arras with the Arms of Poland and Lithuania, 1576: the sack of the Antwerp tapestry market by Brussels (23)

Spanish troops c.1550: The First Parents, Brussels (23)

c.1575 – 80: verdure with mythological figures 1550s: Verdures, Brussels (23)

increasing the narrative element in verdures, Brussels c.1550: The Story of Noah, Brussels (23)

1597: Laurent sets up a tapestry workshop in Paris c.1550: The Story of the Tower of Babel, Brussels (10, 23) 1601: Flemish weavers brought to France to work in 1575 – 95: The Life of Scipio, Brussels (18)

an atelier at faubourg Saint-Marcel 1575 – 95: The Story of Gideon, Brussels (5, 10, 18, 27) 1601: Law banning the import of verdure tapestries 1600s: Contarini landscapes, Flemish (8)

into France 1600s: Don Quixote, after cartoons by Francis Poyntz,

1607: Henri IV established an atelier in the grand Mortlake (15)

gallery of the Louvre under the direction of 1600s: The Fall of Damiate, Haarlem (10) Marc Comans and Frans van der Plancken 1600s: The Life of Eli’jah(20)

1619: the Mortlake manufactory established by 1600s: The Life of St Paul(11) James I and Charles, Prince of Wales 1600s: The Life of the Virgin, Paris (10)

c.1623 –25: The History of Constantine, designed by 1600s: Moses Smites the Rock, French or Flemish (19) Peter Paul Rubens, woven in the Saint Marcel 1605 – 9: The Marriagefrom The Acts of Otto von

workshop, Paris Wittelsbach, after designs by Peter Candid, from the

c.1627: Raphael de la Planche established an atelier at workshop of Hans van der Biest (24) faubourg Saint-Germain-des-Prés 1625: The Battle of Ponte Molle, Paris (14)

1634 –35: The Story of Theagenes and Charicleaseries, c.1629: Kitchen Scenefrom Scenes of Country Lifeafter designed by Simon Vouet, woven by Raphael de la cartoons by Jacob Jordaens, from the workshop of Jacob

Planche Geubels, Brussels (5, 10, 12)

1661: 200 –250 weavers and 42 looms at faubourg c.1630: The Institution of the Eucharist, The Assumption of Saint-Germain-des-Prés the Virgin, The Resurrection of Christand The Worship of c.1662: transformation of the atelier Saint-Marcel into the Shepherds, after cartoons by Rubens, Brussels (25)

the royal manufactory of the Gobelins by Colbert c.1650: Julius Caesar Meeting Cleopatra, woven by Marcus 1664: foundation of Beauvais workshop by Colbert de Vos, Brussels (5)

1665: letters patent issued to establish Aubusson and 1650 –75: God Commands Noah to Build an Arkand God Felletin with a level of royal status while retaining Shows Noah a Rainbowfrom the Life of Noah, Brussels (22) independence; weavers could use the letters MRD 1650 –95: The Miraculous Draft of Fishes, Mortlake (1, 5) or MRDB (Manufacture Royale d’Aubusson) After 1657: The Return of Sarah by the Egyptians, from 1665: The Story of the Kingseries, designed by Le Brun, The History of Abraham, Mortlake (5)

Gobelins 1662 – 80: La Portiere de Char de Triomphe, Gobelins (27)

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1667: royal edict establishing the manufactory of the 1670s: The Cadmus series, Antwerp (27)

Gobelins 1670s – 80s: Boy Satyr Climbing a Tree, from the

1667– 90: Charles le Brun, director of the Gobelins Bacchanals set, English (5)

1684 –1705: Philippe Behagle, director of c.1675: The Healing of the Lame Man at the Beautiful

Beauvais Gate, Mortlake (15)

c.1689 –1729: The Berain Grotesques, designed by c.1657: The History of Abraham, Mortlake (18) Jean Berain, cartoons by Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer 1675 – 95: The Story of Nebuchadnezzar, English (27) c.1690: The Metamorphoses of Ovidseries by 1675 – 95: Diogenes Washing Herbs, English (8)

René-Antoine Houasse, Beauvais 1675 –95: Diogenes in a Barrel Discussing the Meaning 1694 – 99: the Gobelins was closed of Life with Alexander, Mortlake (28)

1699: reopening of the Gobelins 1675 –1710: Melintus and Arianne Fleeing Rome, Brussels (22) 1699: Les Portieres des Dieux(The Seasons and the c.1675 – 95: The Liberal Artsafter cartoons designed

Elements), cartoons by Claude Audran III by Daniel Janssens (d. 1682) (5)

1703: closure of the Mortlake workshop 1684 –1705: The Tea Partyfrom The King of Chinaset, 1726 –55: Jean Baptiste Oudrey (1685 –1755), from cartoons by Vernavisal, Blin de Fontenay and

official designer for Beauvais Dumons, woven by Philip Behagle, Beauvais (1, 5) c.1732: The Story of the Emperor of Chinaseries, 1690 –1720: A Rural Scene, after Teniers (11)

designed by Guy Louis de Vernansal, Jean-Baptiste 1690 –1720: Chinoiserietapestry, woven by John Belin de Fontenay and probably Jean-Baptiste Vanderbank, Soho (11)

Monnoyer, Beauvais 1700s: Eros and Psyche, Gobelins (15)

1736: Fêtes Italienne, by Boucher, at Beauvais c.1700: Mercy and Argos and the Daughters of Ericthonius, 1755 –59: Jean Baptiste Oudrey illustrates Jean La English (5)

Fontaine’s edition of Aesop’s Fables 1700 –25: Verdures, Brussels (27)

1756 –70: Boucher director of Beauvais c.1716: The History of Alexander the Greatwoven 1756 –76: Jacques Germain Soufflor, director of by Josse de Vos, Brussels(4, 7)

Gobelins and Savonnerie c.1720: Chinoiserieset, by John Vanderbank, Soho (27) 1780s: the last weaving ateliers in London close c.1735 – 60: A set of seat furnituredepicting scenes 1793: selected tapestries were burnt before the from Aesop’s Fables, after cartoons by Jean Baptiste

Liberty Tree in the courtyard of the Gobelins Oudrey, Beauvais (16)

1794: the Gobelins and Beauvais workshops were c.1760: Seven chair coversdepicting scenes from made national institutions Aesop’s Fables, probably based on Francis Barlow’s, 1794: the last atelier in Brussels closes probably by Paul Saunders, Soho (17)

1871: Fire almost destroys the Gobelins workshops 1764: Peter the Greattapestry, woven in St Petersburg (27) 1876: a workshop established under royal patronage at 1766: Pastoral Scenesby Paul Saunders, Soho (26)

Windsor with French weavers who had left France 1800s: Tapestry woven curtainsin the bedroom of during the Franco-Prussian war Napoleon III at the Chateau de Pierrefonds, Oise (20) 1881: Merton Abbey tapestry works established by 1898 – 99: The Attainment of the Holy Grail by Sir

William Morris Galahad, Sir Bors and Sir Percival, English (19)

1890: Windsor workshop closes

1893: Windsor tapestries displayed at the Chicago World Fair

1893: William Baumgarten established a manufactory in New York, later moving to Williamsbridge 1894: Holy Grail series, designed by Edward

Burne-Jones, woven at Merton Abbey 1908: Herter workshop established in New York 1912: Baumgarten’s workshop closes

1912: Dovecot Studios established in Edinburgh 1926: Beauvais is granted autonomy

1927: Private commissions possible at the Gobelins

1937: Forestsand Illusions of Icarus, designed by Jean 1946: Le Pêcheur, after a cartoon by Jean Lurçat,

Lurçat, woven in Aubusson Aubusson (20)

1939: Gobelins and Beauvais evacuated to Aubusson 1978: Three Reclining Women, One with a Child, after 1940: The Beauvais workshops in Paris are bombed. designs by Henry Moore, West Dean (1)

From then on they share the Gobelins buildings 1984: Greenhouse Idesigned and woven by Marta 1957– 66: The Song of the World, designed by Jean Rogoyska (1)

Lurçat, woven in Aubusson 2005: Estuaryby John Hubbard, West Dean (1)

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Context

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Tapestry weaving

Western European tapestry weaving is one of the fine arts. The skill of the tapestry weaver is con- sidered by many to be equal to that of the painter, although it has generally received less recognition.

The combined skills of designers and weavers were capable of rendering detailed images, of cap- turing facial likenesses and expressions, and repro- ducing the textures of velvet and satin, fur, feather, stone and water in wool, silk and metal thread (Figure 1.1).

The art of tapestry conservation

Frances Lennard

Figure 1.1 The Miraculous Draft of Fishes, Mortlake, showing the modelling of the figures and the reflections in the water.

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Tapestries woven in Western Europe at the peak of production, from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, were an undoubted status symbol. They were more expensive than paintings and were among the most costly and prized possessions of wealthy patrons.

In 1528, Henry VIII bought a 10-piece set of tapestries depicting the Story of Davidfor £1500, while in 1538, Holbein, the King’s painter, received £30 per annum.¹ Tapestries remained valued possessions throughout the centuries, as seen by the fact that so many have survived periods of war and domestic upheaval, changes of use and movement from one property to another.

Tapestries are woven textiles; the term ‘tapestry weave’ generally describes a weft-faced plain weave, where the warp threads are completely covered by

the weft threads (Figure 1.2). If weft threads are missing, both the design and the physical structure of the material are compromised. Another characteris- tic of tapestry weave is that the weft is discontinuous and does not extend all the way from one selvedge to the other; there is a separate weft for each coloured area of the design and the image or pattern is created by building up small areas of different coloured threads (Emery, 1966). The weavers used a variety of techniques to join the areas of differently coloured weft yarns (Figure 1.2) and a high degree of subtlety was employed to create different effects. Chapter 12 discusses tapestry weaving in more detail.

This book is about the conservation treatment of large tapestry weave hangings created as domestic and liturgical furnishings, and also of smaller-scale 4 Context

Tapestry weave Slit tapestry

Single interlocking tapestry Single dovetailing tapestry

Figure 1.2 Diagram showing tapestry weave, and different methods of joining two colours of weft threads. The hori- zontal weft yarns are spaced further apart than on a tapestry, in order to show the relationship of warp and weft yarns in the weave structure.

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Butterworth-Heinemann Series in Conservation and Museology

T APESTRY

C ONSERVATION

Frances Lennard • Maria Hayward

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Contents

Foreword

Editors’ preface

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Acknowledgements

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Picture credits

Contributors

Tapestry timeline

Maria Hayward

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Context

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The art of tapestry conservation

Frances Lennard

T ^APESTRY

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