Henry VIII. was devoted to tapestry collecting, also.  An agent who was buying for him in the Netherlands in 1538, wrote to the king:  “I have made a stay in my hands of two hundred ells of goodly tapestry; there hath not been brought this twenty year eny so good for the price.”  Henry VIII. had in his large collection many subjects, among them such characteristic pieces as:  “ten peeces of the rich story of King David” (in which Bathsheba doubtless played an important part), “seven peeces of the Stories of Ladies,” “A peece with a man and woman and a flagon,” “A peece of verdure... having poppinjays at the nether corners,” “One peece of Susannah,” “Six fine new tapestries of the History of Helena and Paris.”

A set of six “verdure” tapestries was owned by Cardinal Wolsey, which “served for the hanging of Durham Hall of inferior days.”  The hangings in a hall in Chester are described as depicting “Adam, Noe, and his Shyppe.”  In 1563 a monk of Canterbury was mentioned as a tapestry weaver.  At York, Norwich, and other cities, were also to be found “Arras Workers” during the sixteenth century.

There was an amusing law suit in 1598, which was brought by a gentleman, Charles Lister, against one Mrs. Bridges, for accepting from him, on the understanding of an engagement in marriage, a suite of tapestries for her apartment.  He sued for the return of his gifts!

Among the State Papers of James I., there is a letter in which the King remarks “Sir Francis Crane desires to know if my baby will have him to-hasten the making of that suite of tapestry that he commanded him.”

In Florence, the art flourished under the Medici.  In 1546 a regular Academy of instruction in tapestry weaving was set up, under the direction of Flemish masters.  All the leading artists of the Golden Age furnished designs which, though frequently inappropriate for being rendered in textile, were fine pictures, at any rate.  In Venice, too, there were work shops, but the influence of Italy was Flemish in every case so far as technical instruction was concerned.  The most celebrated artists of the Renaissance made cartoons:  Raphael, Giulio Romano, Jouvenet, Le Brun, and numerous others, in various countries.

[Illustration:  TAPESTRY, REPRESENTING PARIS IN THE 15TH CENTURY]

The Gobelins work in Paris was inaugurated in the fifteenth century under Jean Gobelins, a native of Rheims.  His son, Philibert, and later, many descendants persevered steadily at the work; the art prospered under Francis I., the whole force of tapestry weavers being brought together at Fontainebleau, and under Henry II., the direction of the whole was given to the celebrated artist Philibert Delorme.  In 1630 the Gobelins was fully established as a larger plant, and has never made another move.  The work has increased ever since those days, on much the same general lines.  Celebrated French artists have designed tapestries:  Watteau, Boucher, and others were interpreted by the brilliant manager whose signature appears on the works, Cozette, who was manager from 1736 until 1792.  With this technical perfection came the death of the art of tapestry:  the pictures might as well have been painted on canvas, and all feeling for the material was lost, so that the naive charm of the original workers ceased to be a part of the production.