![]() Few of these Italian workshops achieved substantial output or lasted more than ten years, because they were limited by the wealth and longevity of the founding patrons.ĭuring the last quarter of the fifteenth century, high-quality Netherlandish production was increasingly dominated by the workshops in Brussels. This Netherlandish style differed markedly from the character of tapestries produced during the same period in small workshops established in Italian towns such as Siena, Ferrara, and Mantua, where the products inevitably reflected the development of local aesthetics. Linear complexity was often matched by narrative and iconographic complexity ( Scenes from the Story of the Trojan War, 52.69). During the first three-quarters of the fifteenth century, this encouraged the development of a design style in which the narrative was distributed over the entire surface of the tapestry and the emphasis was on line and pattern rather than volumetric illusion. From these centers, tapestries were exported throughout Europe.Ĭreated as large-scale wall decorations, medieval tapestries were frequently hung with sections of the design obscured by furnishings and architectural features. By the mid-fifteenth century, numerous tapestry workshops existed in the Low Countries in towns such as Arras, Tournai, Lille, and Brussels. This development was stimulated by the availability of skilled weavers and dyers associated with the cloth trade, by the existence of local guilds that supported and encouraged the development of this nascent industry, and by the commissions of local patrons. From the early fourteenth century, a more sizeable industry capable of producing a steady volume of large, high-quality tapestries took root in the towns of northern France and the southern Netherlands. Workshops producing simple, small-scale figurative tapestries probably existed throughout early medieval Europe, much as they were to continue along the Rhine and in the Swiss cantons well into the sixteenth century ( A Fabulous Beast, 1990.211). Enriched with silk and gilt metallic thread, such tapestries were a central component of the ostentatious magnificence used by powerful secular and religious rulers to broadcast their wealth and might. ![]() While much production was relatively coarse, intended for decorative purposes, wealthy patrons could commission designs whose subjects embodied celebratory or propagandistic themes. ![]() Many medieval tapestries measure as much as 5 x 10 yards and sets could include ten or more pieces. In addition, the process of tapestry weaving, where every stitch is placed by hand, enabled the creation of complex figurative images on an enormous scale. At a practical level, they provided a form of insulation and decoration that could be easily transported. Tapestries were ubiquitous in the castles and churches of the late medieval and Renaissance eras. ![]()
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