A panel of Spanish tapestry, obviously intended for altar decoration, has recently been discovered that dates from the early fifteenth century. The centre is occupied by the figure of John the Baptist bearing the Paschal Lamb, flanked by St. Martin of Tours in the dress of a bishop, and by St. Hugh of Grenoble. Gold and silver threads are employed, and the arms are shown of Martin of Aragon and of his wife, Maria de Luna, who died in 1407. This king appears to have interested himself in tapestries, and we read that the walls of the royal palace at Saragossa were adorned with these costly fabrics at his coronation in 1398. King John of Aragon before him had introduced, we read in a document dated 1388, a company of “brobadors de Brabant.” From the fifteenth century onward the costliest tapestries were much sought after in Spain, and magnificent displays were made on the occasions of State banquets or royal weddings. Towards the end of the fifteenth century a special official was appointed by the king to take charge of the royal collection, which was already considerable. This official, Pedro Entierrez by name, was himself a weaver. He made strenuous efforts to develop the industry in the Spanish capital, but apparently without much success. At any rate, a letter of his is preserved among the records of the Spanish Academy of History, in which he complains bitterly of the treatment meted out to himself and his fellow-workers. He was accused by his enemies of being ambitious, unskilled, and slow. These aspersions he proceeds very fully to refute. He complains that his supplies of raw material were limited, and that he was not allowed to set up his heavier instruments in Madrid. It was not, however, until 1624 that the attempt to graft the weaving of tapestry on to Spanish art really succeeded. In this year a small colony of Flemish weavers settled in the little town of Pastran in New Castile, being directly subsidized by the king. Five thousand ducats were paid to them in the first year, and in the following year they received a further seven thousand ducats. Meantime the unfortunate Pedro Entierrez had found a rival in a certain Antonio Ceron who had set up looms at Santa Isabel. Here he established four workshops, and instructed eight apprentices in the art of weaving tapestry. It is probably one of these ateliers that has been immortalized by Velazquez in _Las Hilanderas_. This painting shows in the background a tapestry of mythological inspiration, while in the foreground women are seen unwinding skeins of wool.