Tapestries : Sources Of Communication Through The Ages

By Author: Alla Marinow
Total Articles: 8
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In today’s fast paced world our senses are bombarded with sounds and images from TV, billboards, computers, I-pods, movies, magazines etc. Everything comes to us in nano seconds and we barely have time to take in what is coming at us, let alone think about it.

So, what was it like 600 years ago, 300 years ago, or even just 100 years ago? Where did the average person get their information and how were stories communicated?

Medieval tapestries were originally woven for churches and monasteries. Since most of the population during the medieval/gothic period was illiterate, the church communicated its theosophy via pictures that were hand woven tapestries. Weavers would move from country to country, set up weaving looms and weave tapestry wall hangings that were based on illuminated manuscripts from the monastic libraries. These tapestries taught lessons to the general populace of morality, hell, purgatory, and the hereafter. These wall hangings would be brought out during religious festive holidays and hung as banners on the walls of ...
... the church. Often, to attract crowds, these large tapestries were paraded through the streets with drums and ancient wind instruments preceding them. Crowds of people would follow the procession that leads them to the church.

Eventually, kings and noblemen realized that they also could tell their stories of battles and their conquests in hand woven tapestries. During the 15th century onward we start to see many tapestries showing battle scenes, or portraits of noblemen or kings incorporated into allegorical, mythological and even Old Testament religious tapestries. Power rich dukes and kings portrayed their wealth in wall tapestries. For example, Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy (15th century) owned over 200 tapestries. Since tapestries were very portable (they could be rolled up and transported by cart & horse) the wall tapestries would often be taken to battlefields and would line the entire tent of the king or duke. When the conquered enemy would enter the tent of the duke he would be overwhelmed with the wealth and power of the noblemen. The tapestries surrounding him would show prior battle scenes and conquests.

Eventually as we move into the 17th century onward, wealthy landowners and noblemen would commission weavers to tell their stories in wall tapestry form, of their lives of leisure, benevolence towards their peasants, good deeds, and views of their country estates. We start to see beautiful ladies incorporated into woven tapestries, landscape tapestries showing their estate rich forests with bountiful game and European tapestries showing rolling panoramic views, harvest scenes and hunt scenes, and floral tapestries with vases full of flowers set against very ornate backgrounds and borders.

Towards the beginning of the 18th century Italian tapestries and French tapestries started to take on lots of figure work, with the French showing more court scenes and ladies at leisure, while the Italians like to have lots of naked bodies of cupids and mythological characters. Of course included were also landscape tapestries, as each country wanted to show the wealth of their rolling country side.

From the late 18th century to the 19th century tapestries fell out of favor, as paintings took the place of wall tapestries for decoration. It was not until the mid-late 19th century that William Morris in England resurrected an interest in tapestry wall hangings with his establishment of a weaving mill in Merton Abby. The next 50 years was known as a tapestry revival period. William Morris tapestries were based on medieval designs, but incorporated bolder, bigger images and brighter colors that to this day remain very ‘William Morris’.

Regardless of what period we look at, tapestries speak to us through the ages, telling their stories in woven form for us to enjoy today.