The Orphans at Savonnerie

My current work-in-progress takes place in and around Paris, and concerns the orphans at the Savonnerie tapestry factory. Because I found the research so interesting, I thought I'd share a bit of it with my readers.
During the 15th century, Jean Gobelin founded a dye factory in Paris. Later, Henry IV took over the factory and turned it into a profitable tapestry factory. In 1601, the king brought two weavers from Flanders to Paris to manage the workshops, which were still known as the Gobelin factory.
Some sixty of the workers came from a Paris orphanage. They ranged in age from ten to twelve. The two weavers taught them the craft, and even brought in a tutor once a week to instruct in the art of drawing cartoons, the patterns weavers follow to make the tapestries.
After six years of apprenticeship, one of these orphans, supposedly the one who exhibited the most talent, was chosen as maître. The rest continued as journeymen.
The Gobelin factory tapestries were admired by royalty, and became so valuable only royals could afford them. Louis XIV’s Minister of Finance commissioned several for the king, which took years to produce. Some of the Gobelin tapestries, like the one pictured here, can be seen at Versailles.
The Gobelin name continues, and now the word Gobelin describes not only a weaving technique, but also a color, the best known of which is Gobelin Blue.

Tapestry and weaving has always held a fascination for me, even though I’ve never learned the craft. I’ve seen weavers at reenactments, and tapestries in museums, though. Many of them reflect the geographical location and time period in which they were created. If you google “tapestries” in Wikimedia Commons, you’ll see what I mean. Those by Spanish artists are different from the French, just as painting style and medium differ.
Today, though, I’m blogging about a different kind of tapestry—one created with flowers. Every two years, since 1971, the city of Brussels has an exhibition that draws tourists from miles around. The image above shows the completed floral masterpiece, made of 700,000 begonias. The flowers are arranged on a transparent piece of plastic, perforated to allow enough humidity to reach the blooms to keep them looking fresh longer.
This particular pattern was copied from a tapestry, one of the French Savonnerie. The Savonnerie workshop was founded in Paris in 1628, and produced lavish tapestries for royal palaces, as well as for state gifts and commissions. Now, almost all original Savonnerie tapestries of the 17th and 18th centuries are in museums.
The workshop apprenticed orphans to work in the factory. Where they came from and what they learned is the subject of my next blog.

Tapestry in France

Hospices de Beaune, a former almshouse of the 15th century, is now a museum, one of the buildings in a complex that has grown since its early beginning.
Although the Hundred Years War officially ended with the Treaty of Arras in 1435, massacres continued, initiated by roving bands of misfits who roamed the countryside.
Burgundy was then rules by Philip the Good. His Chancellor, Nicolas Rolin, alarmed by the plight of the people in Beaune, decided to create a hospital for the destitute.
Together with his wife, Guigone de Salins, they opened the doors and admitted the first patient in January of 1452. Even now, patients are still being treated there, although in modern medical facilities on the grounds.
Guigone de Salins, the Chancellor’s wife and foundress of the hospital, commissioned 140 square meters of tapestries for the chapel and to cover the beds of the main sickroom. One of these is seen in the picture to the right. These tapestries from the 15th century are still in the old hospital, and three of them are exhibited in the museum. Grateful patients and families in neighboring villages have contributed gifts through the centuries, and the Hospices de Beaune has grown into a Burgundian institution welcoming visitors by the thousands to the museum.