Belgium and Luxembourg (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

26 INTRODUCING BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG

For over six centuries, Belgian tapestry and

lace have been highly prized luxury crafts.

Originating in Flanders in the 12th century,

tapestry has since been handmade in the

centres of Tournai, Brussels, Oudenaarde

and Mechelen. The lace trade was prac-

tised from the 16th century onwards in

all Belgian provinces. Bruges and Brussels

in particular were renowned for their

delicate work. The makers of this finery often had aris-

tocratic patrons, as grand tapestries and intricate lace

were status symbols of the nobility and staple exports

throughout Europe from the 15th to the 18th century.

Today, Belgium remains home to the very best tapestry

and lace studios in the world.

Belgian Tapestry and Lace

Lace-maker’s

studio sign

Weavers working today in Mechelen and Tournai

still use medieval techniques to produce contem-

porary tapestry, woven to modern designs.

Tapestry weavers numbered

over 50,000 in Flanders from

1450 to 1550. With the dukes

of Burgundy as patrons, hang-

ings grew more elaborate.

Tapestry designs involve the

weaver and artist working closely

together. Painters, including

Rubens, produced drawings for

sets of six or more tapestries

illustrating grand themes.

TAPESTRY

By 1200, the town of Tournai and nearby

Arras (now in France) were known as

centres of weaving across Europe. Prized

by the nobility, tapestries were portable

and could be moved with the court as

rulers travelled over their estates. As trade

grew, techniques were refined. Real gold

and silver were threaded into the fine wool,

again increasing the value. Blending Italian

idealism with Flemish realism, Bernard van

Orley (1492–1542) revolutionized tapestry

designs, as in The Battle of Pavia, the

first of a series. Flemish weavers were

eventually lured across Europe, and this

transfer of skill led to the success of the

Gobelins factory in Paris that finally stole

Flanders’s crown in the late 1700s.

The texture of the weave was

the finest ever achieved – often

5 threads to a cm (12 per inch).