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This work is by Gwenda Welsh Left click on the tapestry below to see full size
This work by Marie Wilson
Left click on the tapestry below to see full size
Tapestries have been woven for hundreds of years in diverse cultures. Both ancient Egyptians and the Incas buried their dead in tapestry woven clothing. Important civic buildings of the Greek Empire, including the Parthenon, had walls covered by them. However it was the French medieval weavers who brought the craft to fruition. In the 13th and 14th centuries the Church recognized the value of tapestries in illustrating Bible stories to its illiterate congregations. Few of these have survived. The oldest existing set is the Apocalypse of St John, six hangings 18 foot high, totalling 471 foot in length which were woven from 1375 to 1379 in Paris. This was the centre of production until the Hundred Years War (1337 - 1453) caused the weavers to flee north via Arras to Flanders (now Belgium and northern France). |
