- Source: Franses Tapestry Archive
The Franses Tapestry Archive and Library in London is devoted to the study of European tapestries and figurative textiles. It is the world’s largest academic research resource on the subject.
History
Established in 1987, the archive was co-founded by Simon Franses, a director of the Franses Gallery and Tom Campbell, a tapestry scholar. After 7 years of full-time work, Dr Campbell moved to New York to take up a curatorial post at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He went on to curate two landmark Tapestry exhibitions Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence (2002) and Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor (2007). In 2008, he was appointed director of the museum.
The vast collection of images began to be collected by Dr Campbell with a team of research assistants, and was gathered from across Europe and America. The Archive has continued to expand over 29 years. It now holds over 240,000 visual records of European tapestries accessible by subject, date, country of manufacture and place of origin. These records have been collected and catalogued from several hundred museums, libraries, auction houses, trade and private collections, and allows precise identification of individual works (as well as visual reconstruction of dispersed sets of tapestries).
Mission
To collect images and data on every significant European tapestry and figurative textile.
To identify, classify, cross-reference and conserve these.
To increase knowledge by collecting books, related articles, and documentation on design, commissioning, origin, production, use, value, provenance.
To increase appreciation and understanding of this art form.
Archive
The images are stored under almost 900 main headings from Landmark Series of European Tapestries to more modest works, altar frontal, table carpets, cushions and upholstery.
The Collection includes:
Visual records: 240,000 +
Reference Books: 2,760
Articles: 3,600
Catalogues of major collections: 450
Sale catalogues and periodicals: 20,000
Other archives, collections and photos
= Institutions
=The V & A Marillier Tapestry Subject Catalogue, fifty volumes of script and photographs, donated to the Nation in 1945
Musée Royaux d’art et d’histoire, Brussels, Archive of Flemish Tapestries
The Burrell Collection, Glasgow
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris
= Private collections
=Donald King, donated by Monique King
Edith Standen
Jack Franses
= Galleries
=Bernheimer, Munich
Duveen, New York
S Franses, London
French & Company, New York
Hamot, Paris
C John, London
Mayorcas, London
Perez, London
Rosenberg & Steibel, New York
Seligman, Paris
Research projects
The Archive has undertaken a number of research projects. A joint survey with the National Trust of the Tapestries in their 200 historic houses was carried out. Assistance is given to academics and scholars and where copyright is owned, images are made available for publication.
A project with Glasgow City Art Gallery and Museum assembling documentation from the Archive on Sir William Burrell’s collection of medieval tapestries. The Burrell Collection has appointed two international tapestry scholars to catalogue this Tapestry collection. The archive assisted with the academic research and securing loans for the "History Woven in Threads" an Exhibition of Medieval and Renaissance Tapestries held in 2014 at Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, Vilnius.
= Surveys
=National Trust Survey
US Public Collections Survey
Lost and stolen
Several missing or stolen pieces have been recovered through the Archive – in 1993 two Gobelins Tapestries stolen from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York, were located and returned, and a Brussels Tapestry stolen from North Mymms Park, England. In 2001 The Art Loss Register deposited images of missing or stolen tapestries and textiles.
Other uses of the documentation
The documentation is also used to provide appraisals for government indemnity in the case of inter-museum loans, grant-giving bodies and Acceptance in Lieu.
References
Further reading
= General
=Joubert, Fabienne; Lefébure, Amaury; Bertrand, P-F (1995). Histoire de la Tapisserie: En Europe, du Moyen-Âge 'a nos Jours. Paris: Flammarion. ISBN 2-08-010969-3.
Heniz, Dora (1963). Europäische Wandteppiche I. Von der Anfängen der Bilderwerkerie bis zum Ende des 16 Jahrhunderts. Brunswick: Klinkhardt & Biermann.
Thomson, F P (1980). Tapestry, Mirror of History. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-7686-1.
Thomson, W G (1973). A History of Tapestry from the Earliest Times Until the Present Day (Third Edition, Revised by F.P. and E.S. Thomson ed.). Wakefield: EP Publishing Ltd. ISBN 0-85409-768-6.
= Museum collections
=Cavallo, Adolfo Salvatore (1993). Medieval Tapestries in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 0-87099-644-4.
Joubert, Fabienne (1987). La Tapisserie Médiévale au Musée de Cluny. Paris: Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication / Éditions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux. ISBN 2-7118-2-094-7.
Standen, Edith Appleton (1985). European Post-Medieval Tapestries and Related Hangings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (2 vols.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 0-87099-406-9.
Wingfield Digby, G F (1980). The Victoria and Albert Museum. The Tapestry Collection : Medieval and Renaissance. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN 0-11-290246-4.
Adelson, Candace J (1994). European Tapestry in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Minneapolis: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, New York : Abrams. ISBN 0-8109-3262-8.
Bennett, Anna Gray (1992). Five Centuries of Tapestry : The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. ISBN 0-8118-0213-2.
Cavallo, Adolph (1967). Tapestries of Europe and Colonial Peru in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. (2 Vols). Boston: Museum of Fine Arts.
Junquera de Vega, Paulina; Carretero, Concha Herro (1986). Catalogo de Tapices del Patrimonio Nacional. (2 vols.). Madrid: Editorial Patrimonio Nacional. ISBN 84-7120-102-X.
= Flemish tapestry
=Delmarcel, Guy (1999). Flemish Tapestry. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-01972-X.
Göbel, Heinrich (trans Robert West) (1974). Tapestries of the Lowlands (Reprint ed.). New York: Hacker Art Books. ISBN 0878171320.
Göbel, Heinrich (1923). Wandteppiche I. Die Niederlande. (2 Vols). Leipzig: Klinkhardt & Biermann.
d'Hulst, R-A (1967). Flemish Tapestries from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century. Brussels: Arcade.
= French tapestry
=Badin, Jules (1909). La Manufacture de Tapisseries de Beauvais depuis ses origines jusqu'a nos jours. Paris: Sociéte de propagation des livres d’art.
Bertrand, P-F; Chevalier, D & P (1988). Les Tapisseries d'Aubusson et de Felletin 1457-1791. Paris: Solarge Thierry Editeur.
Fenaille, Maurice (1903–1906). État général des tapisseries de la manufacture des Gobelins depuis son origine jusqu'à nos jours 1600-1900. (6 Vols.). Paris: Hachette.
Göbel, Heinrich (1928). Wandteppiche II. Die Romanischen Länder. (2 Vols). Leipzig: Schmidt & Günther.
Weigert, R-A (1962). French Tapestry. London: Faber & Faber.
= German tapestry
=Göbel, Heinrich (1933–1934). Wandteppiche III. Die Germanischen und Slavischen Länder. (2 Vols). Leipzig: Schmidt & Günther.
Kurth, Betty (1926). Die Deutsche Bildteppiche du Miltelalters. (3 Vols). Vienna: A Schroll & Co.
= British tapestry
=Marillier, H C (1927). History of the Merton Abbey Tapestry Works, Founded by William Morris. London: Constable & Co.
Thomson, W G (1914). Tapestry Weaving in England, from the Earliest Times to the end of the Eighteenth Century. London: B T Batsford.
Scottish Arts Council (1980). Master Weavers. Tapestry from the Dovecot Studios 1912-80. (Exhibition Catalogue). Edinburgh: Canongate.
= Italian tapestry
=Viale Ferrero, M (1983). Arazzi italiani. Milan: Electa.
= Other
=Buri, Anna; Stucky-Schürer, Monica (1990). Zahm und Wild : Basler und Straßbuger Bildteppiche des 15. Jahrhunderts. Mainz: Verlag Phillip von Zabern. ISBN 3-8053-1174-5.
Baldass, Ludwig (1920). Die Wiener Gobelinsammlung. Dreihundert bildtafeln mit beschreibenden text. Vienna: Osterr. Verlagsgesellschaft Ed. Hölzel & Co.
Bremmer-David, Charissa (2015). Woven Gold: Tapestries of Louis XIV. Los Angeles: Getty Publications. ISBN 978-1-60606-461-0.
External links
V&A Tapestry · V&A
Met European Tapestry Production and Patronage, 1600–1800 | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
West Dean [1]
Dovecote Studios Tapestry Studio
Studies in Western Tapestry https://www.arts.kuleuven.be/studiesinwesterntapestry
Franses Tapestry Archive Franses Tapestry Archive (with information for Users Group)