Tapestry facts for kids
Tapestry is art made with threads. It is woven by hand on a vertical loom. It is weft-faced weaving. This means all the warp threads (the ones that go up and down) are hidden in the completed work. In normal cloth weaving both the warp and the weft threads can be seen.
In this way, a colourful pattern or image is made. Most weavers use a natural warp thread such as linen or cotton. The weft threads, which will be seen, are usually wool or cotton. They can also be made of silk, gold, silver, or other things.
Both craftsmen and artists have made tapestries. The 'blueprints' on cardboard (also known as 'tapestry cartoons') were made by artists, while actual weaving of the tapestries was done by craftsmen.
Function
The success of decorative tapestry can be partially explained by its portability (Le Corbusier once called tapestries "nomadic murals"). Kings and noblemen could roll up and transport tapestries from one residence to another. In churches, they were displayed on special occasions. Tapestries were also draped on the walls of castles for insulation during winter, as well as for decorative display.
The famous Bayeux tapestry is not actually a tapestry, but a decorated cloth. And it was probably designed and made in England by Anglo-Saxon artists.
Images for kids
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Henry VIII is seated beneath a tapestry cloth of state
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One of the tapestries in the series The Hunt of the Unicorn: The Unicorn is Found, circa 1495–1505, The Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
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Tapestry Room from Croome Court, moved to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, hung with made to measure 18th-century Gobelins tapestries, also covering the chairs. 1763-71
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The Triumph of Fame, probably Brussels, 1500s
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photo of low warp loom]]).
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The five Överhogdal tapestries
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A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry depicting Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, rallying Duke William's troops during the Battle of Hastings in 1066
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Flemish 16th Century, The Return from the Hunt, c. 1525–1550, National Gallery of Art
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Boar and Bear Hunt, one of the Devonshire Hunting Tapestries, 1430-1450, V&A. 380 x 1020 cm, weight 50 kg.
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Fall of Tangier, one of the Pastrana Tapestries (1470s), recording the victories of Afonso V of Portugal about a decade earlier. Woven in Tournai
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Battle of Zama (202 BC), from a set of the life of Scipio Africanus, Gobelins copy of c. 1688, after designs by Giulio Romano and Francesco Penni for a set destroyed in French Revolution
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The Lady and the Unicorn: À mon seul désir (Musée national du Moyen Âge, Paris). Probably Brussels, c. 1500.
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Francisco Goya cartoon The Parasol, 1777, Prado
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The Attainment, one of the Holy Grail tapestries, Morris & Co., 1890s
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Le Bouquet, by Marc Saint-Saëns 1951.
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St Adelphus gives clothes to the poor, part of the tapestry of the Life and Miracles of St Adelphus, c. 1510 (Église Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul, Neuwiller-lès-Saverne)
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Constantine's Triumphal Entry into Rome, from The History of Constantine, designed by Peter Paul Rubens and Pietro da Cortona, 1622
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See also
In Spanish: Tapiz para niños
