Tapestry

2012.11.29

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It had its designers, famous painters and graphic artists in particular periods, but a tapestry itself is not the creation of a single artist, rather the product of the joint work of designer, design-drawer and weaver. Even in the initial period of tapestry weaving, certain weaving centres, workshops and masters were much in demand and enjoyed great respect. From the 16th century onwards tapestries were supplied with so-called master’s marks, After the design the cartoon is made, on paper appropriate to the tapestry’s size, or by painting the design onto canvas. In addition a workshop drawing is made for the weaving. Its material is transparent paper, more recently film, on which the artist drew in, using Indian ink, the forms and the outlines of the patches of colour. How precisely the design is transposed to the workshop sketch, on the basis of which the master-weaver weaves the work, depends on the work of the artist making the workshop  sketch. Before the weaving begins it is decided how dense the warp of the tapestry should be. The yarns and the warp were  may be stretched vertically on a standing loom (hautte lice), – or horizontally on a lying  loom (basse lice). This was indicated on the tapestries. Since the XVI. Century there had been silk, metal fibre fleece applied  with coloured warp until our contemporary  era of tapestry art. In the early  period of XI-XII. Century – the tapestry weaving technique included mosaic patterns due to a greater or lesser juxtaposed woven patches. Only the large workshops of the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries  (first in Paris, Arras, Tournai workshop) began to introduce different colours to each other,(hachure  method) Structural principles and elements of the tapestry weaving remained almost unchanged from the earliest times until today.