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Chatelet, Chateau d’Angers, Angers, France 2009
Cathedral Saint Laud
Bishop's Palace
Fawn in the MoatThe Origins of Tapestry (See It Now!)
Wall hangings in tents("double-layering") must have been discovered in prehistoric times as a way to diminish cold (and heat?), prevent wind entry and diminish dust. At first hides and other animal skin products were used; woven materials were rare. The quality of the pelts and hanging objects gave rise to interior decoration and indicated wealth and power. Cloth (woven fibers) is found in Egypt in 2000 BC, but tapestry weaving first appears in China in 400AD and spread slowly through Japan, Persia and Turkey, reaching the West in 1000 AD. At that time it was mostly woolen and silk rugs. The first Art Tapestries were in the early 1300's as personal heraldic designs and patterns (like the Oriental Rugs). Entrepreneurship rapidly expanded the output after 1350, and the Valois family who competed with each other as great Art patrons, encouraged pictorial tapestry. At that time painting was on manuscripts (small) and on wood or walls (not very portable). Nicolas Bataille became very adept at supplying their needs and soon their halls were decorated with portable tapestries. The earliest tapestry series still exissting is here in Angers, the Apocalypse. A few of another series of the same period and workshops are in the Cloisters, N.Y.C. Prior to that there are a few embroidered wall hangings, like the 11C embroidery called the "Bayeux Tapestry" in that city. Tapestry work spread rapidly through North Germany and around Flanders (Arras, Tournai and Brussels). At the beginning of the 1500's the Mille-fleurs (thousand flowers) background pattern became popular and it remains so today as seen in this tapestry which probably belongs to the Manorial Life series at the Cluny Museum in Paris (See our Cluny Tips). Two other mille-fleurs series involving aUnicorn are the most popular in the World (at the Cluny and the Cloisters). There is another series in the Chateau called the "Passion Tapestries", see them too. There are more tapestries in the Chateau and the Cathedral and 20C tapestries in the Musee Lurcat across the river in the Hospital of St. John.
