Franses Tapestry Archive Explained

Library Name:Franses Tapestry Archive
Country:United Kingdom
Type:Research Archive
Location:St James's, London
Items Collected:Visual records of tapestries, books, academic journals, periodicals, sale catalogues
Collection Size:270,000+
Req To Access:Research for academic articles, books, exhibitions, research advancing knowledge or appreciation of tapestries
Director:Simon Franses

The Franses Tapestry Archive and Library in London is devoted to the study of European tapestries and figurative textiles.[1] It is the world’s largest academic research resource on the subject.[2]

History

Established in 1987, the archive was co-founded by Simon Franses, a director of the Franses Gallery and Tom Campbell,[3] 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)[4] and Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor (2007).[5] 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

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.

Tapestry Series TitleCenturySubjectArchive RefNotes
The Beaufort Arms14thArmorial68
Apocalypse14thReligious434/435Château d'Angers
Nine Heroes15thHistory/Religious145[6]
Saint Piat and Saint Eleutherius15thReligious430/436Tournai Cathedral
Devonshire Hunting Tapestries15thHunting305[7]
The Justice of Trajan and Herkenbald15thHistory131Wikicommons
The Ceasar Tapestries15thHistory117-
Life of Saint Peter15thReligious438-
History of Troy15thHistory260[8]
The Hunt of the Unicorn15thAllegory4[9]
The Lady and the Unicorn16thAllegory4[10]
The Honours16thAllegory52[11]
16thReligious424Vatican Museums
The Grotesques of Leo X16thMythology82Vatican Museums
The Hunts of Maximlillien16thHunting746Louvre
The Passion16thReligious407[12]
Scuola Nouva16thReligious400Vatican Museums
16thHistory136-
16thHistory133[13]
The Seven Deadly Sins16thReligious54[14]
16thReligious368[15]
The Story of Joseph16thReligious364-
The Story of Saint Paul16thReligious440[16]
The Story of Abraham16thReligious351[17]
The Jagiellonian Tapestries16thVariousVariousWikicommons
16thHistory162Museo di Capodimonte
The Conquest of Tunis16thHistory154[18]
16thHistory131-
Fables of Ovid "Poesia"16thMythology252[19]
The Valois Tapestries16thCourtly279Uffizi
16th/17thHistory153[20]
The Story of Vulcan17thMythology534[21]
17thMythology530Wikicommons
The Story of Queen Artemesia17thHistory675[22]
The Triumph of the Eucharist17thReligious336[23]
17thHistory676[24]
17thMythology231[25]
Decius Mus17thHistory125[26]
17thReligious693-
17thHistory723-
The Royal Residences17thHunting700-
The Gallery of Apollo17thPortraits727Wikicommons
The Elements17thAllegory697-
17thHistory726-
New Indies18thAllegory730-
Hunts of Louis XV18thHunting745-
Don Quixote18thMyth/Literature275[27]
Fragments from the Opera18thMyth/Literature742[28]
Holy Grail Tapestries19thMyth/LiteratureMorris[29]

The Collection includes:

Other archives, collections and photos

Institutions

Private collections

Galleries

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[31] [32] and where copyright is owned, images are made available for publication.[33]

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.[34] 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.[35]

Surveys

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.

Further reading

General

Museum collections

Flemish tapestry

French tapestry

German tapestry

British tapestry

Italian tapestry

Other

External links

51.5078°N -0.138°W

Notes and References

  1. Web site: CapitaLand to appear before London courts over dispute with UK art gallery . 2023-06-01 . www.businesstimes.com.sg.
  2. News: Vogel. Carol. Curator at Met Named Director of the Museum. The New York Times. 10 September 2008. 4 August 2016.
  3. Web site: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Press Release. Thomas P. Campbell Named Next Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. MetMuseum.org. 5 August 2016. September 9, 2008.
  4. Campbell, ed. Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence, exhibition catalogue, Metropolitan Museum of Art 2002.
  5. Thomas P. Campbell, Pascal-François Bertrand, Jeri Bapasola, 'Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor', Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1 Jan 2007
  6. Web site: Julius Caesar (from the Heroes Tapestries) | South Netherlandish. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 26 November 2023.
  7. Web site: The Devonshire Hunting Tapestries. V&A. 25 August 2016.
  8. Web site: The War of Troy tapestry. 25 August 2016. V&A.
  9. Web site: The Unicorn Tapestries. The Metropolitan Museum of Art . 2016-08-09 . 2016-07-31 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160731232312/http://www.metmuseum.org/metmedia/interactives/adults-teachers/the-unicorn-tapestries . dead .
  10. Web site: La Dame à la licorne. Musée de Cluny. 26 November 2023. French.
  11. Web site: The Honours series (Los Honores). tapestries.flandesenhispania.org. 25 August 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161204194411/http://tapestries.flandesenhispania.org/index.php/The_Honours_series_(Los_Honores). 4 December 2016.
  12. Web site: The Passion of Christ series (Pasión de Cristo) . tapestries.flandesenhispania.org . 25 August 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161210154152/http://tapestries.flandesenhispania.org/index.php/The_Passion_of_Christ_series_(Pasión_de_Cristo) . 10 December 2016.
  13. Book: Woven Gold: Tapestries of Louis XIV . Charissa Bremer-David . Getty Publications . 2015 . 9781606064610.
  14. Web site: Designed by Pieter Coecke van Aelst | Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony tapestry | Flemish, Brussels. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 26 November 2023.
  15. Web site: The Story of Joshua: Gibeonites Trick Joshua tapestry . 25 August 2016 . The Metropolitan Museum of Art .
  16. Web site: Pieter Coecke van Aelst | Story of Saint Paul: The Arrest of Paul tapestry | Netherlandish, Brussels. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 26 November 2023.
  17. Web site: Pieter Coeck van Aelst (1502-50) - The Story of Abraham Series . Royal Collection Trust . 25 August 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190925100146/https://www.rct.uk/collection/1046/the-story-of-abraham-series . 25 September 2019.
  18. Web site: The Conquest of Tunis series - tapestries. tapestries.flandesenhispania.org. 9 August 2016. 9 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180209033808/http://tapestries.flandesenhispania.org/index.php/The_Conquest_of_Tunis_series. dead.
  19. Web site: Tapestry depicting scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Marie-Hélène de Ribou. Musée du Louvre . 25 August 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160508063443/http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/tapestry-depicting-scenes-ovid-s-metamorphoses. 8 May 2016.
  20. Web site: Armada Tapestries. The Armada Paintings. House of Lords. 25 August 2016.
  21. Web site: Tapestry . V&A . 25 August 2016.
  22. Web site: The Queen Distributing the Booty . Minneapolis Institute of Art . 25 August 2016.
  23. Web site: The Triumph of the Eucharist Series - tapestries . 25 August 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161210154734/http://tapestries.flandesenhispania.org/index.php/The_Triumph_of_the_Eucharist_Series . 10 December 2016.
  24. Web site: Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections : Search Collections. Philadelphia Museum of Art. 25 August 2016.
  25. Web site: Tapestry: The Anger of Achilles Against Agamemnon (From the series the Story of Achilles). Museum of Fine Arts Boston. 25 August 2016.
  26. Web site: THE DECIUS MUS CYCLE . Lichtenstein: The Princely Collections . 25 August 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160401043509/http://www.liechtensteincollections.at/en/pages/artbase_main.asp?module=browse&action=ce_theme&lang=en&sid=87294&config=T-1282004185954503,1,1,1,1,0,0 . 1 April 2016 .
  27. Web site: Peter van den Hecke - Arrival of the Shepherdesses at the Wedding of Camacho . The Frick Collection . 9 August 2016 . 2 February 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170202002723/http://collections.frick.org/view/objects/asitem/125/5/primaryMaker-asc/title-asc?t:state:flow=f7b6a502-ce0c-412e-a003-dd36f51c803d . dead .
  28. Web site: Charles-Antoine Coypel (1694-1752) - Fragments dOpera: Armide, Act V scene IV . Royal Collection Trust . House of Lords . 25 August 2016.
  29. Web site: Search Results: Holy Grail Tapestries . 25 August 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170828233019/http://www.bmagic.org.uk/results?s=Holy+Grail+Tapestries . 28 August 2017 . Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery.
  30. Nevinson. JL. Marillier, Henry Currie (1865–1951). 2004. 10.1093/ref:odnb/34876. 4 August 2016.
  31. Book: Mayer-Thurman. Christa C.. European Textiles. 2001. Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York. 7 fn14.
  32. Book: Darr. AP. Albainy. Tracey. Holcomb. Melanie. Woven Splendor: Five Centuries of Tapestry in the Detroit Institute of Art. 1996. Detroit: DIA. 4.
  33. Book: Delmarcel. Guy . Flemish Tapestry Weavers Abroad: Emigration and the Founding of Manufactories in Europe. 2002. Leuven University Press. Louvain. 36 fig 11.
  34. Web site: Burrell Tapestries Research Project. Glasgow Museums. 8 August 2016.
  35. Web site: Medieval And Renaissance Tapestry In Europe. History Woven In Threads National Museum – Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. 4 August 2016.

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