The Mortlake Tapestry Works produced beautiful works of art in C17th century Mortlake. Their beautiful tapestries can still be seen in museums today
King James I, having seen many wonderful tapestries which had been created abroad, set up the Mortlake Tapestry Works on Mortlake High Street in 1619. The king appointed Sir Francis Crane as its first director, showing a rare example of Royal commercial patronage. Unlike in France, the monarchy was rarely involved in commercial activity.
Mortlake was chosen as it lay beside the river, meaning tapestries could be easily transported up or down stream. The humidity next to the river was also essential as it helped to relax the tension in the warp on the looms. Crane chose the talented German, Francis Cleyn, as his chief designer, who had previously worked in the Danish Court. First 50 Flemish weavers were brought over from Flanders. Then, during 1620, a further 140 weavers and their families were brought to Mortlake. Cottages were built for some of the weavers, while others lived in apartments above the loom rooms. A chapel was even built specially for the workers, who were mainly Dutch Lutherans.
King Charles I, when still Prince of Wales, had acquired cartoons of The Acts of the Apostles. These cartoons were drawn by the artist, Raphael, in 1515, as designs for tapestries for the Sistine Chapel for Pope Leo X. (These tapestries are still in the Vatican today. The cartoons were restored to their original state as independent works of art and are now on display at the V&A.)
Cleyn painted exact copies of the cartoons, but with new borders, and these copies were used by the Mortlake weavers. Probably the most popular tapestries made at Mortlake were those of the classical story of Hero and Lysander.
The heyday of the tapestry works was between 1619 and 1642. Sadly, despite the excellent work and the popularity of the tapestries, the Works were not a financial success. This was in part due their royal patrons, who took a long time to pay their bills! Crane had to pay for the expensive materials and staff costs himself. As a result, the weavers endured hard times, often nearing starvation point due to lack of pay, although they always maintained their high standards of workmanship.
After Crane died in 1636, there was a short period of prosperity. But when Charles II became king, he preferred paintings to tapestries, so the Works went into decline and many weavers left for other parts of London. It finally closed in April 1703, but at least the beautiful work of these weavers can still be seen today.
John Moses
Find more local history stories here.