Although Flanders continued to produce the most important sets of
tapestry during the sixteenth century, and cartoons were supplied by the
Flemish artists, Bernard van Orley, Michel Coxie and Peter of Campana,
and the French artists, Primaticcio, Matteo del Nassaro, Caron and
Lerambert, by far the greater number of designs came from Italy. Paul
Veronese, Titian, Pordenone, Salviati, A. del Sarto, Bronzino, Giovanni
da Udine, Giulio Romano and Raphael are among the most prolific
designers; and in the tapestries after their cartoons, the grouping and
distribution of the figures as well as the colouring (that requires much
more shading) differ greatly from the works of the past. The borders are
also more varied; instead of being decorated only with fruits and
flowers tied with ribbons, other motives are introduced—birds, nude
children, fishes, crustaceans, vegetables, emblems, quivers, masks,
grotesques, etc., etc.
Most of these fine sets were made in Brussels to order; but many
tapestries were made there and sold in Antwerp. If Brussels was the
workshop of Europe, Antwerp was the mart. In this city, where all kinds
of merchandise abounded, Guicciardini informs us that more than a
thousand foreign merchants had established themselves and exhibited for
sale to the eyes of purchasers the fine tapestries made in Brussels.
There was a special place, “Le Pand, _halle aux tapisseries_, where many
beautiful and marvellous inventions and works were exhibited and sold.”
Regarding the Brussels tapestries, the same old traveller tells us:
“Especially admirable and yielding great profit, is the trade of the
tapestry-makers, who weave, design and warp pieces in high warp in silk,
gold and silver, at great expense, and with an industry that wins
everybody’s admiration and wonder.”
During the sixteenth century, the looms of Flanders enjoyed great vogue
and received orders from all the princes of Europe. When the merchants
of Florence wished to enrich the Church of St. John with tapestry, they
sent to Flanders; when Francis I, who possessed some magnificent pieces
of Flemish tapestry, wanted to make a present to the Pope, he had twelve
scenes from the _Life of Christ_ made at Arras, from cartoons by
Raphael; and from 1518–39 there are many entries in the accounts of the
Treasury of France for sums paid for Flemish tapestries for the King. As
there was no manufactory for high-warp tapestry in France, Francis I
decided to establish one in Fontainebleau in 1539, and gathered there
fifteen skilled Flemish workmen whom he placed under the direction of
Philibert Babou, Sieur de la Bourdaizière, and Sebastian Serlio, the
Italian architect.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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