'Yosemite Dream' from Heirloom European Tapestries

You can change the décor in any room by painting the walls, changing out the furniture, carpets, drapes or accessories, but at the end of the day all you have done is changed the colors, freshened up a room , created a new environment and spent a bucket of money. But what really changes the ambience of a room, and gives it that extra ‘pizzazz’ are tapestries.

Let’s take the typical wall in any home today. It has space, and lots of it. Hanging a painting or two on the walls will provide an accent to the furnishings in the room, but the large wall still remains. How many people will walk into a room and go immediately to the wall to look at your paintings or prints. Never, or very rarely! Put a large tapestry on a wall, that picks up the primary and secondary colors in the room and you have something that says ‘WOW’- incredible.

When choosing tapestries, many people think small – replace a painting with a slightly larger size wall hanging, and leave lots of wall space around it. If you think that way, then essentially you have placed a woven painting on the wall, versus a wall tapestry. Think Big! A lot of wall space around a wall hanging tapestry will tend to dwarf it, and make it look a bit like a ‘postage stamp’. Throughout the centuries tapestries were used as wall murals– yes, 200 + years ago people also had the same decorating problem that we do today – big walls.

Choosing your tapestry wall hanging is easy. First measure the wall. If it is 7’ wide, you need to consider at least a 5- 6 foot wall tapestry. Anything smaller and you are in danger of moving into the ‘woven painting’ category. Think in terms of occupying 80-98% of the wall. You can go with one wall hanging tapestry or a matching pair. Next consider the ambience or the mystery you want to create in the room. With tapestries you will be creating ‘an environment’ or a feel in the room. Consider the primary (or main colors) and the secondary colors in your room. Now, think of what you want to accomplish with that wall hanging tapestry– do you want to create a quiet pastoral environment with landscape tapestries, a Florentine feel with a Italian tapestries, a deep mysterious look with medieval tapestries, or ‘je ne sais quoi’ feel with French tapestries. Or perhaps it’s a bold look with William Morris tapestries.

Whatever your choice – deciding whether the room needs new furnishings (maybe yours are a bit frayed), or perhaps all you need a change of atmosphere, a bit of class and mystic with some tapestries on your walls.

Heirloom European Tapestries presents Venice tapestry

Early morning, and there you are making your way through the narrow calles (streets) of Venice. The morning mist from the canals has left the stones a bit damp and slick. All you can hear is your own footfalls on the ancient stones and occasionally you hear the swish of a broom as you round the corner to encounter a native Venetian greeting you with ‘buongiorno senora’. Nothing has changed since the 9^th century in this ancient city, and you feel like you are in a time warp.

Venice located on the Adriatic Sea was the main entry point for Europe for goods arriving from Constantinople and the Middle East since the 9^th century– spices, fabrics, gold, precious gems, foods etc. Art, architecture, music, glass, printing interior design and tapestries flourished in Venice for several centuries. While there were no weaving mills in Venice per se (it being a series of Islands in a lagoon), many hand woven tapestries were created in Ferrara and Florence for the wealthy patrons of Venice and Florence to decorate their villas and palazzi. The fine brocades and silks and descriptions of strange beasts arriving from the east would inspire artists and weavers to create wall hanging tapestries. The great Cosimo de Medici, a great renaissance patron of the arts and philanthropist had a series of 6 tapestries woven depicting his building of a biblioteca (library) in Venice to house many of the ancient Greek manuscripts arriving from Constantinople.

Today tapestries can be found throughout Venice and Florence, many housed in museums, and many still decorate private palaces and villas. Italian tapestries today (under the category Renaissance), available from Heirloom European Tapestries depict gardens, archways, sea views, Lake Como (northern Italy), and of course Venice. If you haven’t been there, a visit is essential, at least once in your lifetime. And a wall tapestry reminding you of the beauty of Venice is always a bonus.

HEIRLOOM EUROPEAN TAPESTRIES- Stone Ledge with Vase hand woven tapestry

You can feel the first chill of autumn in the air- hints of winter closing in! Summer still clings, a whole 4 days in a row of sunshine and warmth! And we live in hope of an Indian summer – might even push us through October. But winter’s steady march will not be deterred and we suddenly realize the roof needs some repair, the door is waiting for the paint job we promised it, thoughts of stocking up on some firewood keeps crossing our mind and that wall, actually walls begging for tapestries keeps calling to us.

Since very early times, tapestries have decorated cold stone castle walls, palaces, villas, chateaux, stately homes, country estates and of course our modern homes today.

Through the centuries, wall hanging tapestries have come in different shapes, sizes and themes. During the medieval times subjects ranged from religious to personal leisure themes. Most of the medieval tapestries all had millions of flowers and plants (known as mille fleur) strewn throughout the wall tapestry. Hand woven tapestries served a dual purpose during these early times – they provided warm against the winter cold and cheered up dull, dark grey stone walls that often lacked windows and light.

As we proceed through time, tapestries started to take on painterly themes in the 17-19^th century. Country pastoral scenes with and without people in them were taken over by gorgeous still life painting like wall hanging tapestries. Huge bouquets in vases brought eternal spring into homes, chateaux, villas and palaces. These colorful displays of flowers in oversized vases brightened the dullest interiors and promised coming spring and summer. Painters competed with one another to produce interesting and spectacular array of color destined to be woven into Italian tapestries and French tapestries. Markets as far away as Russia and extreme northern Europe, where winters were the longest and coldest hungered for these wall hangings faster than they could be produced.

Today, Heirloom European Tapestries is delighted to offer many tapestries with spring and summer themes- everything from floral arrangements to country and peaceful pastoral scenes. After all, our winters, be they snow laden or grey and water logged, are no different from our ancestors – we all love eternal spring tapestries in our homes to brighten our lives.

MONTHS OF LUCAS - OCTOBER hand woven tapestry from www.tapestries-inc.com

A cool nip in the air signals September and a change of seasons. Autumn and harvest time! Visit any farmers market at this time of year and the stands are overflowing with a wide variety of vegetables, fruit, nuts, and other produce. Even though a variety of produce is available to us year round, there is still a natural human tendency to want to stock up, fill our cupboards and refrigerators at harvest time. Our bodies’ bio-rhythms are moving with the seasons, and not unlike the squirrels gathering their nuts for the winter months ahead, our natural propensity is to partake of nature’s bounty.

Harvest time has been recorded in tapestries since the 10^th century. We see many hand woven tapestries from the medieval period depicting grape harvest and production of wine. Water was often dirty and carried disease. Wine was considered a ‘safe’ drink, as was mead made from apples or barley. As a result, wine harvest wall tapestries were often the subject of choice, with wall tapestry borders adorned with grapes, fruit and vegetables, marking harvest time.

By the 16^th and 17^th century we start to see more tapestries with harvest themes. One famous tapestry wall hanging series from the 17^th century known as the ‘Months of Lucas’ depicts a different theme for each of the twelve months. October and November (available at Heirloom European Tapestries) shows sheep shearing and the harvesting nuts and berries in a village landscape. These tapestries, with their exquisite detail were originally woven for the king of France by the famous Gobelins weavers in Paris. The original hand woven tapestries had gold and silver woven threads intertwined with the wool, with the price determined by how much precious metal was in the tapestries when completed.

Whether we enjoy a Saturday trip to the farmers market, a glass of wine with fresh bread and cheese, a bite of a freshly picked apple, or a fresh baked apple pie, we can always sit back and marvel at the exquisite beauty of the ‘harvest’ tapestries that have been left to us by our predecessors 400-900 years ago.

WINGED STAGS hand woven tapestry from www.tapestries-inc.com

If pigs could fly or stags with wings? Is this a flight of fantasy or do we have a piece of history documented into a hand woven tapestry?

To get a glimpse into the world of the Winged Stags wall tapestry we have to project ourselves into a time machine that takes us back to a period known as the dark ages during the medieval period. The year is 1453 and a war in Europe has been raging for 100 years or so. The century before and up to 1453, Europe was subjected to one disaster after another. The black plague, famine as a result of failed crops due to planetary shifts, and the never ending 100 years war that drained the coffers of kings, nobility and people alike were the tragedies of the times and all documented in tapestries known as the Apocalypse Series (measuring 459 feet). The church and populace believed the world was coming to an end, and the Apocalypse tapestries were a product of that prediction.

Finally, in 1453, the 100 years war came to an end with the victory of Charles V11 in France over the English. Peace was restored to Europe. And it is believed that the Winged Stags wall hanging tapestry was woven to commemorate that victory. The entire tapestry wall hanging would be rendered a fantasy, if it was not for the banner held by the Winged Stag bearing the coat of arms of Charles VII. Historians believe that tapestries depicted with winged stags possibly represent kingship or in Christianity, a messenger from God. The lions on either side represent bravery, valor and royalty. Tapestries with Unicorns and Winged Stags that are shown within an enclosure have different meanings. In the case of the hand woven tapestry the Winged Stags historians believe that the enclosure represents France.

Regardless whether these tapestries with unicorns and winged stags are considered historical woven documents or just stunning pieces of art, they are our link to the past, not unlike our own turbulent and troubled times. And the nice part is – a reproduction hand woven tapestry, similar to the original is available from Heirloom European Tapestries.

MONTHS OF LUCAS - OCTOBER hand woven tapestry

The current media is loaded with bad news about the state of our world. The list is endless -war, economy, health care, poverty, hunger, global warming, unstable stock market etc etc. Some days, it just makes you want to get off the planet and go live somewhere else – doesn’t it? But anyone who has lived long enough, or read history books will know we have been here before.

History keeps repeating itself –we just keep forgetting! But as a reminder, tapestries have documented similar events since the 10^th century. Ok, so they don’t mention the stock market, but just about every other historical event is spelled out in living color in wall hanging tapestries.

Let’s take the Apocalypse tapestries woven during one of the worst times in medieval Europe- the dark ages (woven in 1373). Europe was experiencing war, famine, the plague and the coldest winters in history. The events of that century are woven into a 459 foot wall tapestry in blazing color depicting the human condition, the historical events and the anticipated demise of the world.

Moving on into the late Renaissance of 1600’s and we get The Months of Lucas tapestries. Twelve hand woven tapestries woven in one of the best weaving ateliers in Paris (the Gobelins), depict each month of the year showing events and lives of ordinary people. Everything from harvest scenes to festival dances to lazy summer days – the happier side of life – all gloriously woven into wall hanging tapestries. We are lucky enough to have several of these panels at Heirloom European Tapestries reproduced into very fine hand woven tapestries.

So here we are in the 21^st century. What kind of wall tapestry would we have woven to depict the current events and our lives today? You wonder if 300 years from now somebody viewing our tapestries would make sense of graphs charts showing stock markets, or the wars in other parts of the world, or somebody texting on their I-phone, or someone skateboarding down a street.

Well, the modern world is different from medieval times or the 1600’s, but the events are no different, and the way we humans experience the world around us has not really changed much.

Summer… it’s what you have been waiting for all winter- right? Sunny, hot, sticky, shirt sticking to your back, burning steering wheel, furnace blast heat as you step out of your air –conditioned digs. The ice-cream you had an hour ago just isn’t cooling you down. Can’t wait for the weekend! Maybe get out of the city, a bike ride, a trip to the mountains, and a swim in the lake or find a cool forest to walk in!

Well, 200-300 years ago the people in Europe had exactly the same ideas. Hot summers drove the city population to the beautiful lakes, landscapes and cool forests with streams and paths. All of these were ultimately woven into magnificent tapestries. Today these wall tapestries, known as landscape tapestries look a lot like our lakes, streams, and cool tranquil walks in the woods. The Italian tapestries primarily give us the rolling Tuscan countryside as depicted in Giardino Italia, Tuscan Retreat, Renaissance Verdure and floral views of Lake Como in the Terrace, while the French tapestries give us the forest scenes of Clairmarais Forest Brook (pictured),

CLAIRMARAIS FOREST BROOK from www.tapestries-inc.com

the expansive scene of Chateau Fontainbleau, Verdure with Columns and many more. All of these European tapestries not only capture the beauty of Europe, but give us summer all year round to enjoy on our walls- without the perspiration!

So it stands to reason, that when the winter winds are blowing and it’s snowing or raining outside, those large tapestries on our wall reminding us of summers cool forest walks along a babbling brook, a swim at the lake, or the landscape views will keep us warm with promises of glorious days of summer to come.

The orchestral sound of a distant violin, joined in by the haunting sound of cello arouses your senses as you slowly wake from your afternoon Sunday nap. As your eyelids finally open, you are met by the stunning beauty of the violin in the ‘Bouquet au Violon’ hand woven tapestry across the room. (picture, from www.tapestries-inc.com) . Another wall tapestry ‘Cello in Italian Garden’ hanging over your sofa invites you into its garden, to hear the strains of the cello just beyond the archway.

Was it all a dream, was it the tapestries making the music , or was it your stereo that you left on as you napped, that caught the exquisite refrains of the stringed instruments? You are not sure, but you do know that the Italian tapestries hanging on your walls are certainly ‘music to your eyes’.

The grand piano in the corner under the hand woven tapestry, and your beautifully polished drum set on the opposite curved wall under another wall hanging tapestry, are stunning impressions. Your friends will be over later for a musical jam session, and you know that your neighbors won’t be disturbed by the sound barrier these European tapestries create.

Music has always been a part of our lives. Since the beginning of time, man has wanted to produce sound, first on drums, then wind instruments and on to string instruments. All of us love music, be it classical, jazz, rock, hip hop, rap, whatever, and there is no better way than to capture it in tapestries for your wall. These wall tapestry hangings will create sound barriers as well as ‘music to your eyes’.

THE HARVESTERS hand woven tapestry Heirloom European Tapestries www.tapestries-inc.com

Well, we are all familiar with the statement ‘history repeats itself ‘. Some of us have even lived long enough to have seen multiple wars in our lifetime. And all of us have lived through the last decade experiencing years that were booming and years that ‘were not so booming’, all in the very short time frame of 10 years.

So what was it like for the people 500, 300 or 200 years ago, that we see in tapestries? We stare at battle scenes, harvest scenes, scenes of leisure, elegant villas and chateaux and tranquil landscape scenes. Was life, captured in that wall tapestry, that different for them? Well, exclude the I-pod, computers, movies, cars and high speed travel, and what have you got? People and lives, not that dissimilar to ours captured in a hand woven tapestry.

The cycle of birth and death remains, and the everyday living in between the two, set out in a wall hanging tapestry is the same. All of life’ joys, loves, disappointments, eating, drinking, harvests, country excursions, and the things ordinary people do every day , magically captured in tapestries through the centuries for us to appreciate, is what binds us together through the centuries in what we call ‘humanity’.

Isn’t it comforting to know that our fellow man 200 or 500 years ago, beautifully captured in wall hanging tapestries faced the same difficulties that we do. Maybe less complicated, but he still had to pay the rent, feed his/her family, put clothing on his back , love his children , go to work every day and deal with the good and bad times. Well, ok, so he didn’t tweet on his I-pod, didn’t have to deal with the traffic jams, computers or cell phones. Apart from the technology, what has changed from the lives we see in tapestries, from our lives today?

Regardless of what we may think, it’s reassuring as well as beautiful to enjoy tapestries on our wall that speak to us of our connectedness through the centuries. History does repeat itself.

'Birds and Acanthus' tapestry from Heirloom European Tapestries

Most people don’t know it, but tapestries have been in our lives since the 10^th century. From the medieval period through to present day, wall tapestries have come into and fallen out of vogue approximately every 100 years or so.

The last popular period for tapestries, before our present time, was approximately 100 years ago or so (late 1800’s) known as the Arts and Crafts movement in England. A group of artists, textile designers and writers known as the Pre-Raphaelites was headed by William Morris in textile design and tapestry weaving. William Morris taken with the medieval period used the designs from illuminated manuscripts and medieval tapestries to inspire his designs and decoration. Using famous artists such as Edward Burne-Jones, Rosetti and Dearle to create the art work for stained glass windows, book covers and wall hanging tapestries. In 1861 William Morris established a decorative arts firm that created painted windows and mural decoration, furniture, metal and glass wares, cloth and paper hangings, woven and knotted carpets, silk damasks, furnishing textiles and hand woven tapestries.

By 1879, tapestries had become a popular item among the wealthy in England, and so William Morris established a ‘revival’ wall tapestry facility in Merton Abbey, and trained numbers of young men in the art of hand woven tapestries. William called woven tapestries as “the noblest of all the arts”. In his writing on woven tapestries he said “depth of tone, richness of color, and exquisite gradation of tints are easily to be obtained in tapestries; and it also demands that crispness and abundance of beautiful detail which was the especial characteristic of fully developed Medieval Art.”

Left to us today are exquisite tapestries, many housed at the Victoria and Albert museum in London, England today. Large tapestries such as ‘Arming and Departure for the Quest’ http://www.tapestries-inc.com/view_product.php?sku=86-B-1 not only is exquisite as a hand woven tapestry, but could easily double as a stained glass window. In his swirling tapestry wall hanging bold leaf motif, known as acanthus leaf, the depth of tone, richness and color along with many colorful birds scattered throughout, is evident in his Birds and Acanthus http://www.tapestries-inc.com/view_product.php?sku=8126-A-1. Many of his other hanging tapestry acanthus motifs with swirling tones of reds, blue and sage, with native birds on every branch, could easily double as wallpaper, but is truly exquisite as a medium-large tapestry Vine and Acanthus http://www.tapestries-inc.com/view_product.php?sku=8129-A-1.

What do we have today, in the 21^st century? Another tapestries revival! Regardless, whether it is William Morris, or the Italian tapestries of the renaissance, or landscape tapestries of the 17-18^th century, all can be enjoyed by visiting our favorite museum or by checking out www.tapestries-inc.com for the latest in hand woven tapestries – ‘birds of a feather do flock together’ when it comes to the wall tapestries at their best!