The Historical Use of Symbolism and Storytelling in Textile Art
The Unicorn Purifies Water (from the Unicorn Tapestries), 1495-1505, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Textile art has a long history of decorating the walls of homes and palaces, being used as blankets, and providing warmth and comfort. The methods and artistry of material art like tapestry have provided centuries of storytelling to onlookers. Textile art has expanded beyond classic forms such as tapestry and quilting which established the artistic foundation for handmade, tactile art to be passed down through time and tradition. The use of symbolism in historical textile art was utilized to tell stories through art, allowing onlookers to not only visually enjoy the art, but understand a deeper meaning. Historically, tapestry was intertwined with wealth and power, and this translated into a select type of imagery used to depict the stories that reflected the values of those who commissioned them. The methods and techniques of tapestry creation as well as narratives surrounding them have changed throughout time, but the artistry and intention have remained constant. Through the exploration of the historical context, and the connection to a modern understanding, tapestry and textile art continue to be a well-developed method of storytelling.
There is a variety of preexisting research on the motifs and symbols of historic tapestry. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) published an archival book on their collection of Medieval tapestry in the 1990s which serves as a reference and inspiration for my work. The book provides great details about the collection the MET has, historic information about the construction, and the usage of tapestry.1 While there has been much research done on materials used and the historical context of tapestry, the specificity of tapestry, both historic and modern, for storytelling is found fragmented in the motifs that make up these works of art. This serves as the foundation for my research as I explore the purposes and artistic desire for textile art. The modern books and sources I use guide my own techniques through the applied production of textile art in a modern context. Despite the many differences between traditional tapestry and modern textile art, I will explore the overarching theme of symbolism, implicit storytelling, and tactile art which has nourished the human soul for centuries.
Through my research, I prioritized a combination of historic articles, images of tapestry, and a variety of modern works to compliment and inform my own textile creation. Academic articles, primary source images, and instruction manuals were my preferred method of research. The photographs of historic tapestries from museum archives highlight important aspects of the work that has been pre-established. The theme of symbolism is a well-informed area of study which allowed me to better understand the work I was viewing. Additionally, it is necessary while examining historic tapestry, to consider the context from when it was made; a viewer from the time these pieces were made and displayed would have been able to recognize, identify, and derive meaning from the flora and fauna at first glance. Supplementary reading on both historic tapestry and the meaning woven within provided me with the ability to examine the works and connect how stories are told through imagery.
Within the context of historical tapestries, the works had many uses and functionalities. While it may seem obvious, tapestries were made to be beautiful decorative items displayed in the home. This went beyond an eye-pleasing aesthetic for the household and contributed to the conspicuous consumption of the aristocracy. Beyond the outward appeal, tapestries displayed the social importance of visually demonstrating wealth and royalty. Historical palaces and manors were adorned with intricately woven tapestries, letting anyone who entered know what kind of power was present. The mechanisms to craft tapestries in addition to the patterns used to create them were highly intricate and could be incredibly large in size. Of the images woven, plants were far easier to create than people and figures. Thus, tapestries that depicted narratives and people were far more expensive.5 In addition to considering societal implications, historians use household records to gain a clearer understanding of the values and priorities of previous generations. Tapestries are crucial in the understanding of Renaissance high society; their values, religious affiliations, and economical stance are all waiting to be decoded in the weave of tapestries. Despite the incredibly large size of some tapestries, occasionally measuring multiple feet in length, their functions were practical. An additional function of this woven wall art was insulation. Hanging tapestries both against the cold walls and over windows where insulation was limited allowed warmth to be kept in. The practicality of this, coupled with how expensive they were to have made, meant that the nobility would have them packed and moved with them to their many manors and residences rather than having different pieces for each estate. The transportation of these pieces also allowed for display during social events, publicly displaying not only wealth but socially relevant themes. A tapestry created to commemorate a monumental occasion, such as the birth of a new royal child, would have reinforced ideas regarding religion or history.
The constructive aspects of tapestry are highly intricate, where patterns were created specifically for the construction of a tapestry called cartoons. Cartoons allowed weavers to start with a formatting foundation from which they could alter their design. Additionally, it was very common, especially in royal tapestries, that high-value items were used including pearls and threads made of metals like silver and gold. This allowed for shine and an added layer of decoration into the weave of the artwork. Tapestries were often used to commemorate social events and rituals as a form of record. Highly fancy events would be catalogued with high-value materials like gold and precious gems. The materials and appearance of tapestries and textile art directly influenced how viewers responded to the event taking place. Whilst the use of tapestries was decorative, they were meant to share knowledge, stories, and history of the people they were made for. In the article, The Knot Within, by author Kathryn Santos, she states that tapestries were “read as much as they were viewed and thus became a familiar way of engaging with textual traditions both within and across languages.” Tapestries were a vehicle to share familiar narratives across the boundaries of age, language, and social class in visual depictions that did not require the refined ability to read to enjoy them and have provided historians with the necessary contextual history to decode societal values. The use of visual aids to tell stories made them more accessible, and this way of communicating has lasted centuries with plenty of incredible art being produced as a result.
Motifs, no matter what art form they appear in, provide a codified language to support the context, subtext, and even the plot of an art piece. The language of flowers, the meanings of certain animals, and even the physical positioning of bodies all create different meanings in art. The joy of art being so interpretive is how each individual sees these subliminal messages and what they read from them. Plants were a common motif that appeared in tapestries. While plant motif meanings are endless, there are consistent themes that emerged to engage viewers and offer subtext to the scene that was being depicted. There was a coded language of plants within European society which associated specific plants with specific meanings. This allowed for a very detailed image to tell a complete story without the use of text. Spiritual or medicinal plants were especially common. For example, both strawberry and periwinkle were thought to drive evil spirits away; the inclusion of such plants held these spiritual meanings for both the viewer and the owner of the tapestry. While modern viewers and historians must decode these meanings, the intended audience in the historical era would have understood the messaging. Additionally, pictured above, from the collection at the MET displays a mythical tapestry not only depicting a unicorn, but many medicinal plants. Marigolds, sage, and oranges are all visible in the tapestry; these are all plants that were used to treat illness and poisoning, actively being blessed by the unicorn’s magical powers. The divine imagery of a mythical beast bestowing healing power to the plants around it contributes to how stories were portrayed and passed down. Without the technology or scientific reasoning as to why herbal medicine worked, societal understandings were based on spiritual and religious explanations.
Romantic imagery was a popular theme that was illustrated. The garden is referred to as the “realm of Venus” for its romantic atmosphere and historic association with love. For medieval lovers, the garden was the appropriate place where they could spend time together promenading and socializing. Courtship rituals, roses, petals falling, and the notion of love being “in the air,” gardens were used to represent romance and the formality of pursuing a lover. Additionally, romantic allegories were often intertwined with what modern viewers would associate with imagery of nobles. Despite the generic scenes that are depicted, clues were embedded in the tapestry which alluded to specific stories the artists were telling. The need to tell stories through art and visual depictions remains evident throughout time, and the motif of the garden was a well-used image. A common floral motif that occurs are thorny and delicate red flowers, indicating a rose garden. This is a clear example of establishing a romantic scene through imagery, without the need for explicit description.
Works Cited
Cavallo, Adolfo Salvatore. Medieval Tapestries in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993.
Francomano, Emily C. “Reversing the Tapestry: Prison of Love in Text, Image, and Textile.” Renaissance quarterly 64, no. 4 (2011): 1059–1105.
Gajewski, Alexandra, and Stefanie Seeberg. “Having Her Hand in It? Elite Women as ‘Makers’ of Textile Art in the Middle Ages.” Journal of medieval history 42, no. 1 (2016): 26–50.
Geijer, Agnes. A History of Textile Art. London: Pasold Research Fund in association with Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1979.
Hedley, Gwen. Drawn to Stitch. Loveland: Interweave Press LLC, 2010.
Homfray, Sarah. Silk Shading. Great Briton: Search Press Limited, 2011.
McDonald, Jacqui. Crewelwork. Great Briton: Search Press Limited, 2010.
Pattullo, Mandy. Textile Collage: Using collage techniques in textile art. London: Batsford, 2016.
Santos, Kathryn Vomero. ""The Knots within": Translations, Tapestries, and the Art of Reading Backwards." Philological Quarterly 95, no. 3 (Summer, 2016): 343-357.
Strickland, Debra Higgs. Saracens, Demons & Jews: Making Monsters in Medieval Art. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2003.
Weigert, Laura. “Chambres D’amour: Tapestries of Love and the Texturing of Space.” Oxford art journal 31, no. 3 (2008): 317–336.
Wellesley-Smith, Claire. Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art. London: Batsford, an imprint of Pavilion Books Company, 2015.
