Henry VIII, king of England from 1509 to 1547, is famed for a lot of matters. But not absolutely everyone is aware of he was a great collector. For one point, he gathered wives. He married 6 diverse ladies in an age wherever divorce was in essence forbidden and wives did not cooperate by dropping useless on their possess incredibly typically. The king also gathered homes. He laid assert to quite a few good homes and palaces, like Westminster, Berkhamsted, Fotheringhay, Warwick, Kenilworth, and some of his favorites: Greenwich, Whitehall, and Hampton Courtroom. He even had Royal Residences in the Tower of London. One particular of King Henry’s major collections was tapestries. He at some point gathered a lot more than 2,000 of these woven images to spruce up Hampton Court Palace and his other royal residences.
But why would the King devote a lot of revenue and electricity to acquire woven photographs to decorate his walls? What was behind these pricey wall hangings?
Tapestry earning was huge marketplace in northern France and southern Netherlands throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Tapestry is a variety of textile artwork created by proficient craftsmen. The items were being woven by hand on a weaving-loom. Weaving a tapestry needed that each thread be carefully positioned on the loom by hand. This painstaking system allowed personnel to create sophisticated designs that integrated intricate options for individuals, animals, and plants. Commonly the chain threads have been produced out of linen or Picardy wool. The striking threads were being produced of Italian silk or gold and silver threads imported from Cyprus. Textile workers and guilds flourished in Belgium and France, ad tapestries produced there had been exported all more than Europe.
Tapestries were being sometimes woven in sets. A set of tapestries often informed a biblical or mythical tale by way of a sequence of images. This art in woven tapestry was supposed to create illusions of what reality must be-a extra mental, much more scientific, more grand entire world. This world could follow the proprietor wherever he went, as tapestries ended up portable and could be transported from just one residence to yet another.
Wealthy and potent males gathered tapestries for the reason that they could genuinely impress website visitors. Just before he experienced to give Hampton Courtroom to King Henry, Cardinal Wolsey despatched London service provider Richard Gresham to Brussels with 1,000 marks to purchase the very best tapestries he could come across. The Venetian ambassador instructed this tale of his visit to Wolsey: “Just one has to traverse eight rooms before one particular reaches his audience chamber, and they are all hung with tapestry, which is adjusted the moment a 7 days” (1).
In September 1528, King Henry became displeased with Wolsey’s operate and took over Hampton Court Palace. King Henry embarked on an monumental rebuilding project, creating new kitchens, a Council Chamber, and a collection of private rooms for himself. In addition, Henry rebuilt the Terrific Hall, which featured great walls for displaying tapestries. To enhance Hampton Court docket and other royal residences, Henry gathered tapestries to communicate his prosperity and ability. The tapestries adorned these kinds of critical public rooms as the Terrific Corridor and the Excellent Looking at Chamber.
Just one of the most famous sequence in Henry’s assortment is the Heritage of Abraham series, which he commissioned particularly for Hampton Court docket. This series was woven in Brussels about 1540 by Wilhelm Pannemaker to the designs of Bernard van Orley. The Record of Abraham tapestries consist of 10 separate parts, each and every of which is somewhere around sixteen feet high and twenty-six ft large. These tapestries are of wonderful high-quality, that includes extremely skilled weaving and a superior steel thread depend, with numerous gold and silver threads. In reality, the amount of money of gold will make them a person of the most opulent merchandise of the Brussels business.
Since of the amount of gold and silver and the large quality of the workmanship, each and every tapestry is believed to have cost Henry as a great deal cash as a absolutely fitted and staffed battleship. This means the entire set expense as a great deal as a fleet of battleships. The Abraham tapestries are a great case in point of King Henry’s major intent in gathering tapestries: demonstrating his wide wealth to people from all-around the entire world. King Henry thought these tapestries would build a beneficial effect and encourage all who arrived to Hampton Courtroom and other palaces of his kingship.
King Henry was proper about the Abraham tapestries getting a symbol of wealth and energy. Their affect lasted substantially longer than Henry did. About 100 decades just after Henry’s loss of life, throughout the English Revolution, revolutionaries seized command of the country and executed King Charles I, and Oliver Cromwell ruled as Lord Protector. A lot of the royal home was offered to the best bidder. But the Abraham tapestries ended up value so a great deal dollars, he was not able to market them. They remained in the possession of Oliver Cromwell at Hampton Courtroom. Like the rest of his possessions, they returned to possession of the crown when the monarchy was restored. These tapestries have been chosen to adorn the partitions of Westminster Abbey at the coronation of King James II in 1685.
The alternative of the Abraham tapestries, commissioned by Henry VIII in 1540, to rejoice the restoration of the monarchy more than 100 a long time afterwards demonstrates their importance as a symbol of royalty and electricity. Even though Henry VIII could not have understood their comprehensive historic importance, he did fully grasp the affect of tapestries on his perception as king. Hampton Courtroom Palace was a preferred residence of King Henry. He manufactured it a wonderful image of his royalty and the toughness of the Tudor dynasty. The impressive tapestries that adorned the palace walls all through his reign had been a fitting image of the prosperity, wisdom, and royalty of King Henry VIII. For him, tapestries have been considerably additional than decorations or insulation. They have been basically the embodiment of his royal impression.
1. Hedley, O. (1971) Hampton Court Palace. London: Pitkin Pictorials.