In preparation for my trip to England, Scotland and France to see tapestries, I bought this book.
It is a beautiful book with many coloured photographs.
Here’s the blurb …
Woven with dazzling images from history, mythology and the natural world, and breath-taking in their craftsmanship, tapestries were among the most valuable and high-status works of art available in Europe from the medieval period to the end of the eighteenth century. Over 600 historic examples hang in National Trust properties in England and Wales – the largest collection in the UK.
This beautifully illustrated study by tapestry expert Helen Wyld, in association with the National Trust, offers new insights into these works, from the complex themes embedded in their imagery, to long-forgotten practices of sacred significance and ritual use. The range of historical, mythological and pastoral themes that recur across the centuries is explored, while the importance of the ‘revival’ of tapestry from the late nineteenth century is considered in detail for the first time. Although focussed on the National Trust’s collection, this book offers a fresh perspective on the history of tapestry across Europe.
Both the tapestry specialist and the keen art-history enthusiast can find a wealth of information here about woven wall hangings and furnishings, including methods of production, purchase and distribution, evolving techniques and technologies, the changing trends of subject matter across time, and how tapestries have been collected, used and displayed in British country houses across the centuries.
This is an amazing achievement by Helen Wyld. Academic, comprehensive but easy to read.
It has four chapters:
- Art and Industry
- Ritual and Presence
- The Woven Image
- Tapestry and History
And there is a section at the start on the different techniques. At the end there is a comprehensive section on notes and a bibliography.
The illustrations are fabulous (there are even some double paged images).
The things on the walls are tapestries made to look like silk, a frame and a tapestry.
If you are at all interested in historic tapestries, then you will love this book.