The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1882-01-13
TnDcstrics.

Nh'oh "S1 W - puppy vi tho "oN'Oo
before the High School, delivered b,
Alfred Hamliu, son of DR.. Hamlin
and late of Paris:
, Men have exercised their ingenuit,
, many hundreds of years TO find some
thing for decorations. In ancicn
times, as the walls of the houses wcr,
, of rough stone and brick, or at leas
: having only rude plastcring of mud
: it became custom to cover their bare
; ness with various kinds of woven fab
RIGS of silk, linen and wool.
. We fiud this was done as far back as
: the time of Moses in the building Of
the tabernacle.
The Egyptians, the Pheni ;ians and
the Tyrians were probabl Y the frs
!, who used these and were the first tc
1gain distinction in making woven fab.
RIGS
Tapestries were also used by the
Greeks and Romans. and in all of the
castles of the great feudal bsrons OF
Europe
The Oldest specimens which we now
have are those known as the Bayeux
tapestries, supposed to have been made
by Matilda, the wife of William the
Conqueror, about 1890 A. ID. These
were made GU long rolls of linen. two
hundred and fifty feet long by two
feet wide, and represented the con-
quest of England, having figures stitch
ed upon them with silk of various COL
ors. Others are found representing
operations of farming, showing the
customs of the people of those days
All of these styles oftapestrics are from
seven to eight hundred years old.
| This kind of work was neglected du-
ring the twelfth, thirteenth and four
teenth centuries, very little being
made during this period; but in the
fifteenth century the manufacture of
pestries was revived and at this time
il was discovered that by alternately
taking up and dropping different mum.
6ers of stitches figures could be woven
into any piece of cloth, and by using
various colors, very beautiful designs
could be made.
Every piece of woven goods consists
of two parts, the warp and the woof
The warp forms the body of the goods
and is composed of parallel threads
running length wise in the loom. Tho
wool is the part woven in and out
across the warp and is generally
wound into shuttle for convenience
in weaving.
The English first acquired fame in
the manufacture of figured tapestries,
and shortly after, the Flemish took the
lead in this art and in all kinds of
thread work, thereby attaining world
wide renown. Any piece of old Flem-
ish tapestry or lace is now almost
worth its weight in gold. Men became
just as famous for their great skill in
this art as in painting and sculpture.
At length the Frenh gained the lead,
which they have kept to the present
time.
The first establishment for making
pictorial tapestries, in France, began
as a dye house about 1860 or 20. This
was built by the Gobelin brothers on
the banks of the Biavre river, a small
stream near Paris emptying into the
Seine. One secret of their success was
that the water of this river had pecu-
liar properties rendering it better than
any other for the manufacture of dyes,
giving them q firmer and more bril-
liant color.
Shortly after this dye house was
built, the manufacture of tapestries
was begun on q small scale, the best
Flemish fabrics being initiated, work
men being imported from Belgium or
Flanders, and looms set up, until it be-
came very famous and profitable con-
Germ. This was during the reign of
Louis XIV. Colbert, one of the most
influential of Louis advisers, seeing
this to be the germ of a great industry
| in6nnad him n hnu II for m ~
the government.
This he did, and thus were establish
ed the national tapestry works Of
France. What is most wonderful is
that since then these works have turn
ed out no goods for sale. All of the
tapestries made are for the French
government to use for decorating pub
lie buildings or as gifts to other gov
ernments, to kings and noted persona
ges.
!, The National tapestry works are stu
atcd south of the river Seine, and be-
fore the entrance to all other of the
government buildings, a sentry stand:
guard. The museum attached to the
buildings contains specimens of the
work turned out Fl ON the time they
were first built down to the present
date. Some of these hangings were
purchased by the government at grea,
expense from the palaces OF kings ant
, princes, to whom they had been givei
! by the government, In order that thoN
. might have on exhibition specimens
showing the style of the work at differ
ent dates and the various steps of pro
G gress through which il has gone.
All of the older pieces have little col
: or, the background being dark, ant
!, blues, greens and yellows the principa
s colors use /.
The rooms of the old castles, clothe,
h with these sombre, rich, dark hanging
s must have presented a striking ant
}. aristocratic appearance. The inoderl
n tapestries are much more beautiful, an
o cannot be told from oil paintings un
less one goes very near them.
Some of them represent portraits G
n celebrated persons, every slight chang
IS of shade being as accurately portraye
d as by the brush of a painter.
u The place where these are made is
ii long, low, narrow room, with win
dows on one side and looms on tn
other. AT each of these looms stands
- workman who is a genuine arts
A. who has been bred up to this wor
!, from childhood. Perhaps this is n
', secret of their success. They know {
~ long as they work they are sure of goo
pay, and when they are too old to 70
10 low the business longer the govern
NJ ment will give them good pension.
IN The threads of the warp extend u
Of Of and dos in the loom. The workms
I'd stands behind the loom with lars
a. tray of silk of all colors at one side al
81 his model, which may be only rue
- design, on the floor before him. Tn
be stands from morning till nigl
without tools save his fingers, pickiI
up the exact number of threads