Franses Tapestry Archive

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

History Established in 1987, the archive was co-founded by Simon Franses, a director of the Franses Gallery and Tom Campbell, 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)Campbell, ed. Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence, exhibition catalogue, Metropolitan Museum of Art 2002. and Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor (2007).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 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 To collect images and data on every significant European tapestry and figurative textile. To identify, classify, cross-reference and conserve these. To increase knowledge by collecting books, related articles, and documentation on design, commissioning, origin, production, use, value, provenance. To increase appreciation and understanding of this art form.

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 RefNotesThe Beaufort Arms14thArmorial68Apocalypse14thReligious434/435Château d'AngersNine Heroes15thHistory/Religious145Saint Piat and Saint Eleutherius15thReligious430/436Tournai CathedralDevonshire Hunting Tapestries15thHunting305The Justice of Trajan and Herkenbald15thHistory131WikicommonsThe Caesar Tapestries15thHistory117-Life of Saint Peter15thReligious438-History of Troy15thHistory260The Hunt of the Unicorn15thAllegory4The Lady and the Unicorn16thAllegory4The Honours16thAllegory52Acts of the Apostles 16thReligious424Vatican MuseumsThe Grotesques of Leo X16thMythology82Vatican MuseumsThe Hunts of Maximlillien16thHunting746LouvreThe Passion16thReligious407Scuola Nouva16thReligious400Vatican MuseumsDeeds of Scipio 16thHistory136-The Story of Scipio 16thHistory133The Seven Deadly Sins16thReligious54The Story of Joshua 16thReligious368The Story of Joseph16thReligious364-The Story of Saint Paul16thReligious440The Story of Abraham16thReligious351The Jagiellonian Tapestries16thVariousVariousWikicommonsThe Battle of Pavia 16thHistory162Museo di Capodimonte 16thHistory154Early History of Rome 16thHistory131-Fables of Ovid "Poesia"16thMythology252The Valois Tapestries16thCourtly279UffiziThe Armada 16th/17thHistory153The Story of Vulcan17thMythology534Hero and Leander 17thMythology530WikicommonsThe Story of Queen Artemesia17thHistory675The Triumph of the Eucharist17thReligious336The Story of Constantine 17thHistory676Story of Achilles 17thMythology231Decius Mus17thHistory125Stories from the Old Testament 17thReligious693-The Story of Alexander 17thHistory723-The Royal Residences17thHunting700-The Gallery of Apollo17thPortraits727WikicommonsThe Elements17thAllegory697-Histoire du Roi 17thHistory726-New Indies18thAllegory730-Hunts of Louis XV18thHunting745-Don Quixote18thMyth/Literature275Fragments from the Opera18thMyth/Literature742Holy Grail Tapestries19thMyth/LiteratureMorris

The Collection includes: Visual records: 240,000 + Reference Books: 2,760 Articles: 3,600 Catalogues of major collections: 450 Sale catalogues and periodicals: 20,000

Other archives, collections and photos

Institutions The V & A Marillier Tapestry Subject Catalogue, fifty volumes of script and photographs, donated to the Nation in 1945 Musée Royaux d’art et d’histoire, Brussels, Archive of Flemish Tapestries The Burrell Collection, Glasgow Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris

Private collections Donald King, donated by Monique King Edith Standen Jack Franses

Galleries Bernheimer, Munich Duveen, New York S Franses, London French & Company, New York Hamot, Paris C John, London Mayorcas, London Perez, London Rosenberg & Steibel, New York Seligman, Paris

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 and where copyright is owned, images are made available for publication.

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. 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.

Surveys National Trust Survey US Public Collections Survey

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.

References

Franses Tapestry Archive

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