Introduction to tapestries

Tapestry is an ancient technique of weaving. The pattern is woven in blocks of coloured weft thread which are then beaten down very tightly on the warp threads, producing a picture or pattern.

In Europe the great period of tapestry weaving ran from the second half of the 14th to the end of the 18th century. The requirements of the Church and the many wealthy people at European courts ensured that demand for all kinds of tapestry work was strong. Wallhangings, bed and table coverings and church decorations all served to demonstrate their owners' wealth. King Henry VIII is recorded as having 2,000 tapestries amongst his various palaces. Large wall tapestries added vibrant colour to a room. They kept out draughts and provided both entertainment and food for thought through their dramatic depiction of stories from the Bible, mythology and the classics, or their revealing portrayal of and commentary on contemporary fashionable life.

Cartoons

A tapestry workshop that had a popular set of designs which it could weave and sell several times was assured of financial success. Many of the busiest companies retained professional artists to produce the full-size designs that the weavers reproduced. These are known as 'cartoons', from cartone, an Italian word meaning paper. The ten enormous cartoons by the artist Raphael on the theme of the Acts of the Apostles were commissioned by Pope Leo X for the Sistine Chapel in 1515 and sent to one of the best tapestry workshops of the time in Brussels. The cartoons were cut into strips and the tapestries woven, but after the commission was completed the cartoons were sold on to other workshops. In 1623 they were bought by the future King Charles I for use at the tapestry workshop in Mortlake.

Click on the images for a larger version

Raphael, The Sacrifice at Lystra, 1515-16 Bodycolour on paper mounted onto canvas (tapestry cartoon), 350 x 560cm Lent by H.M. The Queen

Raphael, Christ's Charge to Peter, 1515-16 Bodycolour on paper mounted onto canvas (tapestry cartoon), 340 x 530 cm Lent by H.M. The Queen

Weaving technique

Professional tapestry workers used large looms and developed ways that enabled them to work fast, but they still had to overcome considerable obstacles to produce works the size of wall hangings. For instance, tapestries were woven from the back, because this made it easier for the weaver to deal with the ends of the different coloured wefts. Thus weavers could not usually see the complete design or image until the work was finished. On low-warp looms, the warp threads were stretched horizontally and the cartoons placed directly underneath.Weaving from the back meant that the woven image was reversed. High-warp looms, which hold the warp threads vertically, enabled weavers to produce a design the right way round. This was achieved not by re-drawing the cartoon, but by looking through the warp threads at the reflection of the cartoon in a mirror.. It is virtually impossible to tell from looking at a tapestry whether it was woven on a high-warp or a low-warp loom.

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  Tapestry-woven panel showing a dolphin, 4th or 5th century. Museum no. 1302-1888

  Tapestry-woven panel showing a dolphin
  Egypt
  4th or 5th century
  Wool and undyed linen
  Museum no. 1302-1888

  These small naturalistic woven motifs were produced in the 4th to 6th centuries by early Egyptian Christians called Copts. The textiles are referred to as Coptic textiles. The motifs used include a quail, a basket of fruit and a dolphin. Another example includes flowers, and has birds and heads of women in the centre. These pieces were used as decoration on tunics, covers or hangings. The central brown square in which the basket of fruit is placed, and the border of fruit round the edge, are stitched at both sides but not at the top and bottom, where slits that occurred during weaving have been stitched together later.

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  Tapestry-woven panel showing a quail, 4th or 5th century. Museum no. 284-1891

  Tapestry-woven panel showing a quail
  Egypt
  4th or 5th century
  Museum no. 284-1891

  These small naturalistic woven motifs were produced in the 4th to 6th centuries by early Egyptian Christians called Copts. The textiles are referred to as Coptic textiles. The motifs used include a quail, a basket of fruit and a dolphin. Another example includes flowers, and has birds and heads of women in the centre. These pieces were used as decoration on tunics, covers or hangings. The central brown square in which the basket of fruit is placed, and the border of fruit round the edge, are stitched at both sides but not at the top and bottom, where slits that occurred during weaving have been stitched together later.

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  Tapestry-woven panel from a tunic or hanging showing a basket of fruit, 4th or 5th century. Museum no. 2147-1900

  Tapestry-woven panel from a tunic or hanging showing a basket of fruit
  Egypt
  wool and linen
  4th or 5th century
  Museum no. 2147-1900

  These small naturalistic woven motifs were produced in the 4th to 6th centuries by early Egyptian Christians called Copts. The textiles are referred to as Coptic textiles. The motifs used include a quail, a basket of fruit and a dolphin. Another example includes flowers, and has birds and heads of women in the centre. These pieces were used as decoration on tunics, covers or hangings. The central brown square in which the basket of fruit is placed, and the border of fruit round the edge, are stitched at both sides but not at the top and bottom, where slits that occurred during weaving have been stitched together later.

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  Tunic with tapestry-woven wool inserts, 6th to 7th century. Museum no. 136-1891

  Tunic with tapestry-woven wool inserts
  Egypt
  6th to 7th century
  Linen and wool
  Museum no. 136-1891

  These small naturalistic woven motifs were produced in the 4th to 6th centuries by early Egyptian Christians called Copts. The textiles are referred to as Coptic textiles. The motifs used include a quail, a basket of fruit and a dolphin. Another example includes flowers, and has birds and heads of women in the centre. These pieces were used as decoration on tunics, covers or hangings. The central brown square in which the basket of fruit is placed, and the border of fruit round the edge, are stitched at both sides but not at the top and bottom, where slits that occurred during weaving have been stitched together later.

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  Tapestry-woven bedcover, 17th century

  Tapestry-woven bedcover
  Norway
  wool on linen warp
  17th century
  Museum no. 786-1884

  The stylized designs made by skilled Peruvian weavers suit tapestry construction well. The weavers used mainly vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines rather than curves. Bright reds, browns and ochres were used with white and the shapes had a symbolic, often religious, meaning. The designs can be viewed from either end as figures and beasts face in two directions. The tapestries are made from two pieces, each the width of a loom or frame, joined together to match the pattern. The weft ends are interlocked where colours meet, so there are no slits.

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  Tapestry, 14th century. Museum no. T.91-1933

  Tapestry
  Peru
  14th century
  woven in wool and cotton
  Museum no. T.91-1933

  The stylized designs made by skilled Peruvian weavers suit tapestry construction well. The weavers used mainly vertical, horizontal and diagonal lines rather than curves. Bright reds, browns and ochres were used with white and the shapes had a symbolic, often religious, meaning. The designs can be viewed from either end as figures and beasts face in two directions. The tapestries are made from two pieces, each the width of a loom or frame, joined together to match the pattern. The weft ends are interlocked where colours meet, so there are no slits.

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  Detail from a tapestry panel showing a wild man and a monster, 12th to 15th century. Museum no. T.117-1937

  Detail from a tapestry panel showing a wild man and a monster
  Switzerland
  12th to 15th century
  Museum no. T.117-1937

  This small-scale tapestry was made in Switzerland between 1140 and 1460. The two men have red hairy bodies, the blond lady has a blue hairy body, and the blue and yellow monsters are made up of parts of different animals. An effect of shading has been created around the rocks by lines of blue leading into neutral areas of colour.

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  Detail of two heads from the Swan and the Otter Hunt Devonshire Hunting tapestry, mid-15th century. Museum no. T.203-1957

  Detail of two heads from the Swan and the Otter Hunt Devonshire Hunting tapestry
  Franco-Burgundian
  mid-15th century
  Museum no. T.203-1957

  These four great woven hangings were made over a period of thirty years in the mid-15th century at the tapestry studios of Arras and Tournai. They were eventually hung in the home of the Duke of Devonshire. The subjects of the tapestries are Swan and Otter Hunt, Deer Hunt, Falconry, and Bear and Boar Hunt. They teem with lively historical detail that sheds light on the way people hunted for entertainment and food, as well as on the clothes, weapons, animals and landscape of the period. The tapestries were used to decorate, to warm and to impress. Although some figures have been made to look three-dimensional by the use of the hachure technique for shading, there is little perspective.