Elegant French Tapestries
I'm in the mood to write about elegant French tapestries. I've often read that bloggers struggle with "what shall I write about?" but this really is no problem for us here - we have so many tapestries, each with a tale to tell. Our Belgian, Italian and French tapestries are naturally very broad-ranging in their styles yet certain fundamental styles play a dominant role. A visit to France quickly reveals the influence of French elegance in tapestry art derived from the 17th and 18th centuries. The chateaux and museums shout out Louis XIV in particular. He commissioned them by the hundred for his royal palaces. I remember being stunned by a long hallway at the chateau at Blois whose walls were filled by wall tapestries showing his palaces. One of these, the Royal Palace tapestry (above), is very popular today.
Louis XIV was even followed into battle by an artist whose job was to depict the king directing his troops. These later became glorious paintings or tapestries ... if the king was victorious. See the Capture of Lille:
His successor Louis XV may have been less flamboyant but his patronage of Francois Boucher (1703-70) resulted in a distinctive influential style of elegant French tapestries. In spite of the republican vandalism of the French Revolution tapestries continued as status symbols to future emperors and kings. By then the more efficient Jacquard loom had been invented. This loom provides the basis of all tapestry weaving today. The tapestry below shows that French elegance remained in the 19th century when this was woven in Beauvais. The image shows The Mandolin tapestry in our home above an antique seven legged table (yes, seven legs).
One has to conclude that the French will always have an elegant flair, certainly in Paris. I, for one, am glad of that.