The Historical Evolution of Tapestries from Medieval

Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven on a vertical loom. Formerly, the term "tapestry" was applied to any heavy fabric, whether painted or not, and over time came to be restricted to the familiar hand-technique used for weaving these images. From the 18th century to the 19th, historians have often defined tapestry to be a form of heavy, reversible handwoven textiles that are patterned and used for wall hangings or upholstery. Tapestry traditionally has been a luxury, available to the wealthy and even now, the making of large handwoven tapestries is costly.

Typically, tapestries are created as single panels or series of related panels intended to be displayed together. This will vary one the size of the walls each panel is meant to cover. The 17th-century series "The Life of Louis XIV," for instance, contained 14 tapestries and two complementary panels. Modern sets usually contain fewer pieces. Matisse's Polynesia comprises only two pieces, and Henri-Georges Adam's Mont-Saint-Michel is a triptych. Tapestry of previous centuries are more likely to be given an entire room, and not only the walls, but also have been for upholstery furniture, cushions and bed canopies.

To this day, in the West, tapestry is a cooperative enterprise which combines talents and skill between the painter or designer and the weaver. The earliest medieval European tapestries were weaveries, illustrations of a designer's design that could be followed by the weaver, but they were often used in their original design. The Renaissance saw many tapestries move away from directly-imposed programs to basic reproduction of paintings, even to the extent that the involvement of the artists in providing full designs was lessened, and cartoon painters and professional producing weavers took the fore.

The majority of tapestries are woven in wool for the warp (the lengthwise threads) and the weft (the width-running threads that cover the warp). Durable, workable, easily dyed:a wool. Frequently, the wool is mixed with silk, linen or cotton to enhance the fabric texture and color pallet. The latter are made highlights and highlight effects silk. The earliest medieval European tapestries were weaveries, illustrations of a designer's design that could be followed by the weaver, but they were often used in their original design. The Renaissance saw many tapestries move away from directly-imposed programs to basic reproduction of paintings, even to the extent that the involvement of the artists in providing full designs was lessened, and cartoon painters and professional producing weavers took the fore.

The majority of tapestries are woven in wool for the warp (the lengthwise threads) and the weft (the width-running threads that cover the warp). Durable, workable, easily dyed:a wool. Frequently, the wool is mixed with silk, linen or cotton to enhance the fabric texture and color pallet. The latter are made highlights and highlight effects silk.

The warp density determines the thickness of the tapestry fabric. The Angers Apocalypse had between ten and twelve threads per inch during the Middle Ages in Europe. By the sixteenth century, the grain was made finer to resemble paintings more closely, In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Gobelins factory in France, known for the quality of its tapestry, wove 15 to 20 threads per inch of flaxen thread. During the 19th century, the Beauvais factory used up to 40 threads per inch. Nowadays, in the 20th century, the grain of tapestries again approached the grain of the 14th-15th centuries.

European tapestries woven on high-warp or low-warp looms. In this case the warps are stretched between two horizontal rollers and the weaver works from the back of the loom, often viewing their progress through a mirror. Low warp looms have the warps stretched across horizontally, and the weaver passes a shuttle through this space to insert weft threads. Although more frequently used in industry, the high-warp looms are traditionally used by the Gobelins factory.

Since Medieval times, Cartoons or preparatory drawings are used to guide the weaving process. The cartoon was first hand drawn, then painted by an artist. Weavers began working from a model, rather than directly from the cartoon, by the 17th century. Typically a cartoon will be used to make several tapestries, and the borders are often modified for each commission.

During the 20th century such anachronistic image creation was less common. In an innovative system developed by Jean Lurçat during World War II, photographic enlargements or numbered diagrams are used. This is laid under the warps in low-warp looms and alongside the high-warp loom, and the main outlines are painted on the warps with ink. The pattern is typically done across the fabric for a smoother texture, but this can cause a fabric too weak to withstand the weight of the tapestry to develop holes between them over time.