GOBELIN history
by Encyclopedia Britanica

The word tapestry is derived from the ancient Greek word "tapes" meaning a carpet, but it more commonly describes a heavy cloth with decorative art designs and picture textile interpretation.

Tapestries art, originally were used in churches and palaces, where they were hung on the walls. The famous Bayeux tapestry was made to commemorate the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The British set shows Norman horsemen attacking King Harold's troops, a Norman ship and various battle scenes. The Bayeux tapestry is really an example of needlework on a canvas base rather than a woven tapestry. It is about 230 feet long and 20 inches wide. It includes over 1,500 pictures and inscriptions in Latin. The life and death of King Harold and the invasion of Britain by William the Conqueror are fully illustrated. According to folklore, it was made by Matilda , the wife of William the Conqueror, as a wall-hanging for the Bishop of Bayeux to hang in his cathedral . In spite of it being almost 1,000 years of age, it is in a remarkably well-preserved condition.

At the beginning of the Middle Ages tapestry art was developed especially in Flandra and France. The epoch of apogee being that of Renaissance. Centres of tapestry art like the old French cities of Arras and Gobelin, have become synonymous with the word "tapestry" have became points of European reference.

The gobelin "art industry" was founded in the middle of 15th century by Jean Gobelin (died in 1476). The Gobelins were a family of dyers, who in all probability came originally from Reims, and who in the m,iddle of the 15th century established themselves in the Faubourg Saint Marcel, Paris, on the banks of the Bivre. The first head of the firm was named Jehan (d. 1476). Jean Gobelin discovered a peculiar kind of scarlet dyestuff, and he expended so much money on his establishment that the common people named it "la folie Gobelin". So rapidly did the wealth of the family increase, that in the third or fourth generation some of them forsook their trade and purchased titles of nobility. A tapestry works started by two Flemish weavers, Marc de Comans and François de la Planche, called to France by Henri IV in 1601, was later added. In 1662 the works in the Faubourg Saint Marcel, with the adjoining grounds, were purchased by Colbert on behalf of Louis XIV and transformed into a general upholstery manufactory, in which designs both in tapestry and in all kinds of furniture were executed under the superintendence of the royal painter, Le Brun. Charles Le Brun was director and chief designer from 1663 to 1690. On account of the pecuniary embarrassments of Louis XIV the establishment was closed in 1694, but it was reopened in 1697 for the manufacture of tapestry, chiefly for royal use and for presentation. During the Revolution and the reign of Napoleon the manufacture was suspended, but it was revived by the Bourbons, and in 1826 the manufacture of carpets was added to that of tapestry. In 1871 the building was partly burned by the Communists. The manufacture is still carried on under the state.

In the 20th century, after a long period of regress, the old tapestry art went again through a spectacular turning point in its evolution being present as a decorative element in painting art, jewellery baskets, ornament pillows, framed in fancy works.