Chapter VI: Part 1 (3)

[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 begin
Out 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 night
With 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,
and _did 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.