tapestry, Renaissance

During the Renaissance most European requirements for tapestry were met by workshops in France and Flanders, which had developed tapestry industries during the Middle Ages. In Italy, small workshops, all of them under noble patronage, flourished only spasmodically.

France The finest tapestries of the early Renaissance were woven in northern and eastern France, where court patronage transformed the medieval tapestry industry. Of particular importance in the 14th century were the court of King Charles V (in Paris), and the elegant and wealthy independent courts of his brothers the dukes of Anjou, Burgundy, and Berry. Among the finest works of the period is a set of Apocalypse tapestries produced for the Duke of Anjou by the master weaver Nicolas Bataille 1375-79 (Tapestry Museum, Angers, France).

During the English invasion 1418-36, many of the Paris weavers moved to the towns of Arras and Tournai, which soon developed an international reputation for their tapestries (the word ‘arras’ came to mean tapestry in several European languages). One of the many major works of the period is The Story of Alexander (Doria Palace, Rome), probably woven by Pasquier Grenier of Tournai. War and plague brought about the rapid decline of the tapestry industry in Arras and Tournai at the beginning of the 16th century.

Among the finest French Renaissance tapestries are the elegant mille-fleurs (‘thousand flowers’) tapestries, made from about 1480 to about 1520, which depict courtly mythological scenes. The best known is Lady with a Unicorn about 1490 (Cluny Museum, France). Strangely, it is not clear who made these exquisite tapestries, or where - perhaps in Tournai, perhaps in the Loire Valley. In 1540 Francis I established a tapestry workshop at Fontainebleau, using Flemish weavers and Italian artists. Though this experiment was short-lived, it helped to keep alive the French tradition, which was to flower again with the establishment of the famous Gobelins factory in the 17th century.

Flanders With the decline of Arras and Tournai at the beginning of the 16th century, Brussels, which had a well-established tradition, became the undisputed centre of tapestry weaving. Among its important patrons was Pope Leo X, who had the famous Acts of the Apostles set woven from designs by Raphael (work began in 1515); the Doges of Venice; and Francis I of France. The most important patron, however, was Emperor Charles V (Charles I of Spain) who from 1519 ruled Flanders as part of his vast, scattered kingdom.

Throughout the 16th century, the weaving of Brussels tapestries was dominated by the Pannemaker family. The characteristic Renaissance style of Brussels tapestries was established by the Flemish artist Bernard van Orley, an artist able to exploit the artistic potential of tapestry. In his biblical and historical narratives, he was able to bring together a Flemish taste for genre and narrative scenes and the Italian preference for monumental, classically inspired figures - Raphael's designs for Leo X had a profound effect on Flemish tapestry.

Italy In Italy, where the warmer climate made thick wall hangings less essential to life in draughty palaces, the two most important workshops were in Ferrara and Florence. Leonello d'Este, Lord of Ferrara, established a workshop there in 1445, using Flemish weavers to execute cartoons by artists such as Cosimo Tura. The Florentine workshop was established exactly a century later by the Duke I Cosimo de' Medici. Again it was run by Flemish craftsmen, the most important being Jan Rost, who had worked in Brussels and Ferrara. Its works, among the finest Italian tapestries, are from cartoons by leading Italian artists following the style of Mannerism artists, notably Jocopo da Pontormo and Agnolo Bronzino.