Tapestries: Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque

Tapestries played a central role in the culture and propaganda of the great European courts from the Middle Ages to the middle of the 18th century. Kings used them to furnish their palaces and gave them as diplomatic gifts, the tapestry’s splendour reflecting the magnificence of the giver. The great advantage of tapestries was their portability – they could be easily folded and moved from one place to another, loaded onto carts as their owners travelled to govern their lands, to follow the Court or to do battle, and if they were defeated, tapestries formed part of the rich booty taken by the victors.
In this course you will discover how tapestries are made, we will see how their themes and styles changed over four centuries and we will look in greater detail at who had tapestry in Burgundy and at its production in Paris and London.