Tapestry workshops
in the 18th-century Western Europe

The royal tapestry manufactory of the Gobelin changed the whole picture of tapestry production in Europe. French weavers came to the fore.

The trend towards the convergence of painting and tapestry weaving that had emerged in previous centuries reached its peak in the 18th century. Tapestries turned, in fact, into woven paintings. These changes affected the borders as well: the lush seventeenth-century frames were gradually replaced by borders imitating the gilded stucco frames of paintings.

Фото — "Royal Huntings" tapestry. From the series "Landscapes and Verduras with Hunting Scenes",
Or "Small Hunts". 1684-1705. Beauvais Manufacture. Beauvais, France. Wool, silk,
tapestry weaving. 314 × 393 cm. The State Hermitage Museum. Inventory T 15409.

The Royal Tapestry Manufacture in Beauvais reached its peak in the 18th century. It produced tapestries of the same quality as Gobelin and also made upholstery for furniture and screens which often accompanied a series of tapestries. The upholstery was a complete tapestry, often very fine, with sumptuous floral compositions or scenes in cartouches: pastorals, fables by Lafontaine.

Tapestries from the workshops of the French Aubusson are noted for their original decorative colouring, bright and harmonious, and somewhat naive interpretation of the figures and the landscape. In the second half of the 18th century, the Aubusson workshops received cartoons from the best artists of the time, and some of them had even been used before at Beauvais. During the second half of the 18th century small pastoral tapestries became exceptionally popular with customers, and by the 1780s, chinoiserie (or Chinese-style) tapestries with chinoiserie subjects, which were interpretations of compositions by Jean-Baptiste Pillemant.

Flanders in the eighteenth century was strongly influenced by French tapestry weaving. The period at the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which has been called the "autumn of Flemish tapestry weaving", was extremely fruitful. Extant tapestries from this period are characterised by the same high level of work by all the masters: cartoon makers, dyers and weavers.

Such large workshops as those of van der Borch and de Vossoy continued to operate in Brussels. Quite often Brussels weavers used cartons by French artists. However, alongside new trends, national motifs remained popular in Flemish tapestry weaving: rugs based on cartoons by Flemish artists were produced in Brussels. A special trend in Flemish wall carpets was tapestries inspired by the works of David Teniers II (the Younger, 1610-1690) with scenes from the everyday life of common people. Flemish tapestries were very popular.

In the late 17th century the Huguenots moved to Germany from France. They were financed by German rulers who were interested in their own tapestry production. A large tapestry manufactory under the patronage of the Prussian king worked in Berlin from 1686, it was headed by Pierre Mercier, a French weaver who had worked in the Aubusson manufactory and left France in 1686, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. In 1718, with the help of French craftsmen, a tapestry manufactory was opened in Munich.

In 1714, at the invitation of King Augustus the Strong, Pierre Mercier started to produce wall carpets in Dresden. After his death in 1729, Jacques Nermo, his companion, who also came from a family of hereditary weavers of Aubusson manufactory, took over the workshop. The tapestry production in Dresden lasted until the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). In Dresden Mercier weaved a series of tapestries with gold and silver threads, The History of Augustus the Strong (based on cartoons by Louis de Silvestre), intended for Dresden Castle.

In Spain from the seventeenth century, there were tapestry manufactories, which were set up by guest weavers from Flanders. In 1721 a Flemish weaver, van der Gotten, started production at the Royal Quilt Manufactory, later called Santa Barbara. The Spanish tapestry factory produced fine-quality carpets based on cartoons by Raphael, and Guido Reni and also made tapestries based on paintings by Teniers II and war scenes by Philips Wouwerman. The most famous Spanish tapestry series is The Story of Don Quixote based on cartoons by the Italian artist Andrea Procaccini. At the end of the 18th century, Santa Barbara produced a series of tapestries based on cartoons by Francisco Goya to decorate the rooms of the King and Infante in the Escorial Palace.

The origins of collecting
tapestries in Russia.
WESTERN EUROPEAN TAPESTRIES IN RUSSIA IN THE XVII-XVIII CENTURIES

During the Renaissance period the largest European collections of tapestries were formed: the Spanish Patrimonio Nacional, the French Mobilier Nacionale, the English, which became part of the Historic Royal Palaces, tapestries in the Vatican and Medici palaces in Italy, the Habsburg heritage in Austria, the Saxon and Polish Electors in Dresden and Krakow. The number of wall carpets at the major European courts often reached several thousand. They were a beautiful decoration, they insulated stone walls, and served as partitions and curtains. They were cherished and proud of them no less than jewellery and rare weapons.

It is interesting to note that the fashion for wall carpets stayed away from Russian palaces for a long time. There existed descriptions of interiors and everyday life of Russian tzars, and one can encounter references to plenty of fabrics and oriental floor carpets, but there were no records of such carpets in Russia before the second half of the XVII century. During the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (1629-1676) many European traditions came to Russia. The first reliable evidence of tapestries in the Tsar's palace comes from the report of Polish ambassadors on their mission in 1667. In a lengthy description of the order of the Russian court, the Poles mention carpets of French work, woven with silk and gold, "as painted".

The court of Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich already knew and understood the tapestries well. Following the large carpets seen by Polish and Swedish ambassadors, the first tapestries were donated to Russia on behalf of Louis XIV. In 1668 the French king sent the Russian king the first fruits of the newly organized manufactory Gobelin - a series of five tapestries "History of Constantine" on the cards of Peter Paul Rubens and Charles Lebrun. There is no doubt that the series of huge tapestries woven with gold and silver threads, The Story of Constantine, made a huge impression on the Russian court. On the wall of the throne room behind Alexei Mikhailovich's back, one can see tapestries from this series.

Later on, it was not only the tsar's court that brought tapestries to Russia. It is known that wall carpets appeared in the houses of Prince Golitsyn and Boyar Matveyev in Moscow. There has been preserved a description of Prince Golitsyn's collection of tapestries, offered for sale in 1690. In it, we can recognise verdures with birds and animals, hunting and historical scenes. Tapestries in Russian houses were not regarded as individual works of art, but as a type of precious wallpaper. They were placed on the walls, cutting out holes for windows and doorways, and even placed on ceilings as plafonds. Nothing is known about the established market for tapestries in seventeenth-century Russia. Apparently, tapestries were brought to Russia as diplomatic gifts or as separate acquisitions.

Nevertheless, by the early 18th century, wall carpets had become commonplace in the palace. On the few engravings of that time, one can see tapestries on the walls, nailed as wallpaper and cut at the doors and windows (see the engraving by Alexei Zubov "The wedding of Peter I and Catherine", 1712). In this palace, the walls are covered entirely, apparently, with Flemish landscape tapestries.

In 1668, through the Russian ambassador Peter Potemkin, the French king sent the Russian tsar the first fruits of the newly organized tapestry manufactory - a series of five "History of Constantine" based on the cartoons of Peter Paul Rubens and Charles Lebrun. There is no doubt that the series of huge tapestries woven with gold and silver threads, The Story of Constantine, made a huge impression on the Russian court. On the wall of the throne room behind Alexei Mikhailovich's back one can see tapestries from this series.

Imperial Tapestry Manufactory in St Petersburg

During his visit to Paris, Peter I showed a great interest in tapestry manufacture. Since 1716, the Russian court had been negotiating with French tapestry masters about contracts for setting up their own tapestry manufactory. A group of weavers arrived in St. Petersburg from Paris and Beauvais. The main difficulty the French masters encountered in Russia was the complete absence of a tradition of lint-free carpet weaving, local skilled workers and materials (at first, they were imported from France). Apart from running a manufactory, the French were engaged in training Russian craftsmen, which gave results after a few years: the first independent works of Russian apprentices appeared in 1720s.

A tapestry manufactury was founded in St. Petersburg to provide the imperial palaces with its production. The main problems faced by the weavers of the manufacture at first were irregularity of funding and lack of artists in Russia, capable of making the correct cartoons for tapestries. The early products of the St. Petersburg Manufactory included woven portraits of members of the imperial family, copies of paintings from the Tsar's palaces and later from the Hermitage, and copies of French carpets (for example, in the 1730s and 1740s the manufactory repeated one of the gifts of Louis XV, the "Indian" tapestry series, which has not survived to this day). In addition, the St Petersburg tapestry manufactory produced floor carpets after its own cartoons, including pile carpets.

In the second half of the XVIII century, only Russian masters already worked at the St. Petersburg tapestry manufactory. It produced both large-size compositions and whole sets of the so-called picture wallpaper. This was an ensemble for the decoration of one room: tapestries for three walls, which looked like silk wallpaper with pictures hanging on them, curtains for windows and drapes for the doors in the tone of matching the background, a floor carpet. For example, such sets were given as a dowry to the daughter of Paul I.

Quite a significant part of the manufactory's production were woven portraits of members of the royal family and Russian aristocrats. They were part of the decoration of palaces, and also served as a common diplomatic gift on behalf of the Russian Emperor.

At the end of the 18th century, Russian tapestry weaving was experiencing the same crisis as European workshops. Ефзуыекшуы looked more and more like oil paintings. In the first third of the 19th century, the St. Petersburg tapestry manufactury continued to weave tapestries after cartoons of Russian artists, but from the 1830s it switched to making floor carpets and restoring carpets and tapestries from the imperial collection.

In 1857, the St Petersburg tapestry manufactory was closed. Despite the short period of its life, it produced quite a lot of wall and floor carpets. After its closure, the manufactory's storerooms were sold, thus many articles ended up in private hands and on the antique market. In addition to their own imperial use, Russian tapestries often served as diplomatic gifts or were part of the dowry of grand duchesses, so a large number ended up abroad.

Tapestry collecting in Russia
in the 18th - first half of the 19th century

In the spring of 1717, Peter the Great arrived in Paris. At that time he was keen on the idea of setting up his own tapestry manufactory in St Petersburg, so he visited the tapestry manufactory twice, taking a keen interest in the production and products. During his second visit, Peter chose two series of tapestries for himself on behalf of Louis XV: eight tapestries from the "Indian" series (Tenture des Indes) and four rugs from the Scenes from the New Testament series based on cartoons by Jean Jouvenet. The latter series is in the Hermitage collection.

In the same year, Peter I placed an order for a series of 'Histories' at the tapestry manufactory. The four wall carpets depict the main victories of the Northern War: 'The Battle of Lesnoy' (1708), 'The Battle of Gangut' (1714), 'The Battle of Poltava' and 'The Capture of Swedish Forces at Poltava'. The painter Pierre-Denis Martin, nicknamed De Gobelin (1663-1742), was invited as a cartoonist.

Over ten years it took a lot of people in Russia and France to execute this huge order of the Russian Tsar. Where were these huge tapestries going to be placed? There were very few buildings with large halls in St Petersburg; Peter's first Winter Palaces consisted of small rooms. It is most likely that Peter had intended to hang them in the Cavalier Hall of the Winter Palace (the third in number). This suggestion was made by G. V. Mikhailov who correlated the size of the main hall of the palace with the tsar's tapestries.

The tapestries themselves have not survived to this day, but two cartoons for them are known to be in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and the Poltava Battle Museum in Poltava.

By the time of Elisabeth's coronation in 1742, the storerooms of the palace had amassed a large number of wall carpets. When the present-day Winter Palace in St Petersburg was founded, there were plans for a tapestry gallery. The next major addition to Russia came courtesy of the future Emperor Paul I. In 1782 Paul and his wife travelled to Europe under the name of Count and Countess Severny. They visited France and, of course, Paris. From there, among many gifts from Louis XVI, they brought with them carpets to adorn their palaces: a series of tapestries entitled The Story of Don Quixote, tapestries based on Raphael's cartoons The Halls of the Vatican, carpets from the new Indiana series, and furniture upholstery by Beauvais and Savonneri.

At the end of the 18th century, the imperial tapestry collection was enriched in an unusual way: after the third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, the Polish king Stanislav II Augustus Poniatowski came to St Petersburg, together with over a hundred 16th century Flemish tapestries from the Wawel castle in Krakow. For more than a century these Flemish tapestries commissioned for King Sigismund II Augustus in the 1550s and 1560s decorated the Winter Palace in St Petersburg and the Gatchina Palace in the suburbs of the capital. In 1921 these rugs were returned to Krakow.

In the 19th century, despite the pan-European crisis in tapestry weaving, the Russian court received mainly French tapestries. The tapestry portraits of Alexander I and Elizabeth Alexeyevna, which were urgently woven to replace those of Napoleon and Marie-Louise in 1815, after the Russian troops had entered Paris, were particularly remarkable. They were presented to the Russian tsar by Louis XVIII in 1817.

Private collections of Russian aristocrats could compete with those of the tsar. A fine collection of tapestries was assembled by Princes Yusupovs. Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov started buying tapestries in the 1780s. By the early 20th century, the Yusupovs' collection had become one of the most significant in Russia. The jewel in the collection was a series of "The History of Meleager", woven at the Brussels workshop of Jean Leiners using Charles Lebrun cardboards for Philippe d'Orléans. According to a family legend, these carpets were presented to Prince Nikolai Yusupov by Napoleon in 1804.

Among the masterpieces from private collections, The Hunt of the Duke of Lorraine should be mentioned. This rare tapestry, woven at the manufactory in Nancy in 1725, was given to Prince Alexander Gorchakov in the middle of the 19th century by Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary.

Secretary of State Alexander Aleksandrovich Polovtsov had in his collection a series of History of Constantine, woven at the Paris manufactory of Raphael de la Planche after the cartoons by Peter Paul Rubens. A.A.Polovtsov did a lot to enrich another collection - the Baron Stieglitz museum - with many rare carpets.

In the last quarter of the 19th century, Baron Alexander Ludvigovich Stieglitz established the Museum of the Technical Drawing School in St Petersburg. Thanks to the generous financing and active work of Stieglitz's son-in-law, Alexander Alexandrovich Polovtsov, the museum of applied arts managed to collect a large collection of early sketches fairly quickly. The Hermitage received from the museum, for example, a tapestry of the series The Legend of the Madonna of Sablon, made in the early 16th century for Notre-Dame du Sablon in Brussels.

On the occasion of the coronation of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna in 1896, the French government presented the Russian Emperor with a huge tapestry, The Fairy Godchild, woven in 1878-1888 from a carton by Alexis-Joseph Mazerol. The tapestry was originally intended for the Elysée Palace, but in the time it took to execute it, fashions changed and the huge rug remained in the Mobilier Nacionale warehouses. In 1895, a Russian coat of arms was added to its upper border and the tapestry itself was presented to the future Emperor Nicholas II a year later.

Besides the purchase of tapestries and diplomatic gifts, the Russian court and aristocracy ordered modern carpets for decorating their interiors. The French-Belgian firm Braquenié worked closely with Russian clients in the second half of the 19th century. The company made 15 rugs for the decoration of the Saltykovskaya Staircase of the Winter Palace on the order of Emperor Nicholas II in 1899.

The last diplomatic gift to the Russian court was a series of tapestries entitled The Seasons presented to Emperor Nicholas II by President Raymond Poincaré of France in 1914. Four trellises in the Art Nouveau style after cartoons made by Jules Chéret are still in the Hermitage.

Tapestry workshopsin the 18th-century Western Europe

The origins of collectingtapestries in Russia.WESTERN EUROPEAN TAPESTRIES IN RUSSIA IN THE XVII-XVIII CENTURIES

Imperial Tapestry Manufactory in St Petersburg

Tapestry collecting in Russiain the 18th - first half of the 19th century

Tapestry workshops
in the 18th-century Western Europe

The origins of collecting
tapestries in Russia.
WESTERN EUROPEAN TAPESTRIES IN RUSSIA IN THE XVII-XVIII CENTURIES

Tapestry collecting in Russia
in the 18th - first half of the 19th century