L’exploitation des carrières(1823) par Develly Jean-Charles (1783-1849)
Tag: History
Madame de Pompadour
Madame de Pompadour Royal Mistress and Patron of the Arts (1721-1764)
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court and was the official chief mistress of Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and remained influential as court favourite until her death.
People
Vincennes
Vincennes ware (Encyclopedia Britannica), pottery made at Vincennes, near Paris, from c. 1738, when the factory was probably founded by Robert and Gilles Dubois, until 1756 (three years after it had become the royal manufactory), when the concern moved to Sèvres, near Versailles. After 1756 pottery continued to be made at Vincennes, under Pierre-Antoine Hannong; both tin-glazed earthenware (officially) and soft-paste porcelain (clandestinely, in defiance of a Sèvres monopoly) were made until royal intervention forced Hannong’s dismissal in 1770. The factory continued until c. 1788. Histories of the royal porcelain manufactory of France usually discuss products before 1756 under the name Vincennes and those after 1756 under the name Sèvres, though when it comes to questions of patronage and style, pottery authorities refer freely to the Vincennes–Sèvres administration.
Some of the innovations for which Sèvres became famous actually began during the Vincennes period. Soft paste (a porcellaneous material but not true porcelain) was made from 1745 by François Gravant and a company formed with a monopoly of the production of “porcelain in the style of the Saxon.” Typical of Vincennes were biscuit figures (white mat, unglazed figures in soft paste) introduced c. 1751–53 by J.-J. Bachelier, and flowers (c. 1748), also modelled in soft paste, on wire stems or applied to vases.
Chantilly
Chantilly porcelain (Encyclopedia Britannica), celebrated soft-paste porcelain produced from 1725 to c. 1789 by a factory established in the Prince de Condé’s château at Chantilly, Fr. Two periods can be distinguished, according to the composition of the porcelain; in the first, up to about 1740, a unique, opaque milk-white tin glaze was applied on a rather yellowish body; in the second (1741–89), a traditional, transparent lead glaze was used.
Chantilly porcelain plate decorated with dragons, c. 1725; in the Victoria and Albert Museum
Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
The preoccupation of Chantilly, until the Prince died in 1740, was with Japanese Kakiemon designs. Some of his designs were directly inspired by his large collection of the ware, others derived from Meissen versions of these Oriental motifs, such as the “Red Dragon” service, which, in iron-red and gilding, became the Chantilly Prince Henri pattern. Other Japanese patterns simplified and adopted included the quail, partridge, flying squirrel, and pomegranate.
Porcelain produced in the second period was influenced first by Meissen and then by Sèvres, both in modelling and in the use of coloured grounds. Some rare figures reflecting Chinese influence were modelled, as well as bird figures and small statuette flower holders. The main production, however, consisted of domestic ware—plates, jugs, basins, and jardinieres—enhanced by an effective economy of decoration painted in underglaze blue only or at best with a limited palette, which was the result of Royal edicts in favour of the Sèvres. The motif was often small flower bouquets known as Chantilly sprigs or more formal scrolls and plait work.
French Furniture in the Eighteenth Century
French Furniture
French Textiles
French Ceramic Arts
Gobelins
Colbert Visiting the Gobelins, Sébastien Leclerc I (French, Metz 1637–1714 Paris) 1665
This etching illustrates a visit to the Gobelins workshops by Colbert de Villacerf, Surintendant des Bâtiments du Roi from 1691 to 1699. The workers are in the process of hanging one of a set of tapestries depicting the Story of Alexander, woven for Louis XIV after designs by Charles Le Brun.
In brief – About Manufacture Nationale des Gobelins (Tripadvisor)
The National Furniture Administration and the National Tapestry and Carpet Manufactories have brought together at the Gobelins site four historic institutions that date back to the 17th century: The National Furniture Collection, the Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory, The Beauvais Tapestry Manufactory (some of the workshops are also located in Beauvais), and La Savonnerie Carpet Manufactory.The exhibition space known as “La Galerie des Gobelins” welcomes temporary exhibitions.
Since 1662, when Louis XIV’s finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert decided to bring together all of the Parisian weaving and tapestry workshops as well as those set up in Maincy by Nicolas Fouquet in one location, the Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory has continued to play a key role in the history of tapestry. The workshop was named after a family of dyers, the Gobelins, who did business on the banks of the Bievre starting in the mid-15th century. Charles Le Brun, First Painter to Louis XIV, was the manufactory’s first director. He allowed not only painters and tapestry makers, but also goldsmiths, metal casters, engravers, and cabinetmakers to set up workshops at the Gobelins site. Under Le Brun’s supervision, the extraordinary tapestries produced at the manufactory, which were designed for the homes of French royalty and as diplomatic gifts, earned international renown that has survived for more than three centuries.
Photographie : Jean-Philippe Humbert
Gobelins Manufactory (Wikipedia)
History
The Gobelins were a family of dyers who, in the middle of the 15th century, established themselves in the Faubourg Saint-Marcel, Paris, on the banks of the Bièvre. In 1602, Henry IV of France rented factory space from the Gobelins for his Flemish tapestry makers Marc de Comans and François de la Planche on the current location of the Gobelins Manufactory adjoining the Bièvre river. In 1629, their sons Charles de Comans and Raphaël de la Planche took over their fathers’ tapestry workshops and in 1633 Charles was the head of Gobelins manufactory. Their partnership ended around 1650 and the workshops were split into two. Tapestries from this early, Flemish, period are sometimes called pre-gobelins.
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Death of Constantine tapestry (one in a series) after a design by Rubens woven by Filippe Maëcht and Hans Taye in the Comans-La Planche workshop, 1623-1625.
Colbert and Le Brun
In 1662 the works in the Faubourg Saint Marcel, with the adjoining grounds, were purchased by Jean-Baptiste Colbert on behalf of Louis XIV and made into a general upholstery factory, in which designs both in tapestry and in all kinds of furniture were executed under the superintendence of the royal painter, Charles Le Brun, who served as director and chief designer from 1663-1690. On account of Louis XIV’s financial problems, the establishment was closed in 1694, but reopened in 1697 for the manufacture of tapestry, chiefly for royal use. It rivalled the Beauvais tapestry works until the French Revolution, when work at the factory was suspended.
The factory was revived during the Bourbon Restoration and, in 1826, the manufacture of carpets was added to that of tapestry. In 1871 the building was partly burned down during the Paris Commune.
The factory is still in operation today as a state-run institution. The manufactory consists of a set of four irregular buildings dating to the seventeenth century, plus the building on the avenue des Gobelins built by Jean-Camille Formigé in 1912 after the 1871 fire. They contain Le Brun’s residence and workshops that served as foundries for most of the bronze statues in the park of Versailles, as well as looms on which tapestries are woven following seventeenth century techniques. The Gobelins still produces some limited amount of tapestries for the decoration of French governmental institutions, with contemporary subjects.
Rear view of the Gobelin Manufactory, adjoining the Bièvre river, in 1830.
Although Gobelins is synonymous with tapestry, the two brothers never wove a thread. Their claim to fame in the tapestry world was making a special Venetian scarlet dye.
Tapestries sought to technically compete with paintings. Hundreds of new dyes were developed to create a range of subtle tonal qualities. Unfortunately, the ravages of time and light have destroyed much of these subtle effects.
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Further reading
Further viewing
The Art of Making a Tapestry : The Tapestry Manufactory at the Gobelins, Paris