Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

GOBELIN

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 165 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

GOBELIN , the name of a See also:

family of dyers, who in all See also:probability came originally from See also:Reims, and who in the See also:middle of the 15th-See also:GOBI I 6 5 See also:century established themselves in the See also:Faubourg See also:Saint See also:Marcel, See also:Paris, on the See also:banks of the Bievre. The first See also:head of the See also:firm was named Jehan (d. 1476). He discovered a See also:peculiar See also:kind of See also:scarlet dyestuff, and he expended so much See also:money on his See also:establishment that it was named by the See also:common See also:people la folie Gobelin. To the dye-See also:works there was added in the 16th century a manufactory of See also:tapestry (q.v.). So rapidly did the See also:wealth of the family increase, that in the third or See also:fourth See also:generation some of them forsook their See also:trade and See also:purchased titles of See also:nobility. More than one of their number held offices of See also:state, among others Balthasar, who became successively treasurer See also:general of See also:artillery, treasurer extraordinary of See also:war, councillor secretary of the See also:king, See also:chancellor of the See also:exchequer, councillor of state and See also:president of the chamber of accounts, and who in 1601 received from See also:Henry IV. the lands and lordship of Briecomte-See also:Robert. He died in 1603. The name of the Gobelins as dyers cannot be found later than the end of the 17th century. In 1662 the works in the Faubourg Saint Marcel, with the adjoining grounds, were purchased by See also:Colbert on behalf of See also:Louis XIV., and transformed into a general upholstery manufactory, in which designs both in tapestry and in all kinds of See also:furniture were executed under the superintendence of the royal painter, Le Brun. On See also:account of the pecuniary embarrassments of Louis XIV., the establishment was closed in 1694, but it was reopened in 1697 for the manufacture of tapestry, chiefly for royal use and for presentation. During the Revolution and the reign of See also:Napoleon the manufacture was suspended, but it was revived by the Bourbons, and in 1826 the manufacture of carpets was added to that of tapestry.

In 1871 the See also:

building was partly burned by the Communists. The manufacture is still carried on under the state. See See also:Lacordaire, See also:Notice historique sur See also:les manufactures imperiales de tapisserie See also:des Gobelin et de tapis de la Savonnerie, precedee du See also:catalogue des tapisseries qui y sont exposes (Paris, 1853) ; Genspach, Repertoire See also:detaille des tapisseries executees aux Gobelins, 1662–1892 (Paris, 1893) ; Guiffrey, Histoire de la tapisserie en See also:France (Paris, 1878-1885). The two last-named authors were See also:directors of the manufactory.

End of Article: GOBELIN

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
GOBEL, JEAN BAPTISTE JOSEPH (1727-1794) 		[next]
GOBI (for which alternative Chinese names are SHA-M...

Site © 2006 - Net Industries