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Fanfare befitting royalty accompanied the 1954 presentation of three 16th- and 17th-century tapestries from the William Randolph Hearst estate to Carnegie Institute. And why not? They were made, after all, for a castle.
The exhibition "Gods, Love, and War: Tapestries and Prints From the Collection," at Carnegie Museum of Art, presents the wall-sized works in all their grandeur, along with prints by masters such as Albrecht Durer and Pieter Brueghel the Elder that contain some of the same subject matter.
The mid-1500s was the "golden age of tapestries," said Lucy Stewart, exhibition organizer and Carnegie assistant curator of education, and the prestigious woven works, admired by kings, were the "most lucrative art form" produced in the southern Netherlands and northern France at that time.
When Henry VIII commissioned a set of tapestries depicting the story of Abraham, "the cost was equivalent to that of a battleship, to the next richest person's entire year's salary," said Dr. Richard L. Simmons, who was a research intern for the exhibition. "Henry VIII had 30 castles and owned the biggest tapestry collection in the world, 2,700 tapestries, when he died."
On March 5, 1954, the Boys' and Men's Choir of the Church of the Redeemer performed at a gala luncheon hosted by community and cultural leaders for Mrs. William Randolph, John R. and George R. Hearst, and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra trumpeters heralded the unveiling of each tapestry.
The Rev. Hugh S. Clark's invocation was tailored to the occasion, citing, "the universe that is one and continuous -- a robe of divinity woven without seam throughout" and asking God's blessing upon "all artists who create works of art to Thy Everlasting Glory and who bequest to us a vision of Thy Divine Purpose."
All of this was prominently reported in the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, adding to the tapestries' regional celebrity.
The sumptuous works -- "Autumn," "Winter" and "The Triumph of Hope" -- and three others were returned to public view last weekend after a near decade-long rest and restoration.
The tapestries had previously hung in the Ailsa Mellon Bruce Galleries, which were closed in 2001 for renovation and reopened, newly installed, last month. And the tapestries have been brought back, at least temporarily, to the Heinz Galleries.
After their size, the next thing a viewer notices is their extraordinary detail.
"Autumn" and "Winter," both about 12-by-20 feet, were woven in the late 17th century at the Gobelins Manufactory in Paris. Part of a set representing the four seasons, they are grand genre scenes of the grape harvest and winemaking or of people skating on a frozen pond.
Where: Carnegie Museum of Art.
When: Through June 3.
Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays and Dec. 28, until 8 p.m. Thursdays, noon-5 p.m. Sundays. Closed Christmas and New Year's Day.
Admission: $15; seniors $12, students and children 3-18 $11; under 3 and members free. Active military 50 percent discount, up to four per military ID.
Demonstration: Artist Constance Merriman will re-create a portion of "Hope" during the run of the exhibition in the galleries (call for times).
Information: 412-622-3131 or www.cmoa.org.
Events: Feb. 12, 13 and 14 -- "Opera Theater of Pittsburgh," 7 p.m. private exhibition viewing, 8 p.m. performance in the Hall of Sculpture, followed by dessert. The American stage premiere of Italo Montemezzi's "The Love Spell" presents lush, late-Romantic music and the story of a mystical love triangle. In Italian with English text projections ($60, $55 members; tickets at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust box office, 412-456-6666).
Feb. 18 -- 10:30 a.m.--2 p.m., "Lunch and Learn: Telling Stories in Colorful Tapestries," a curator-led tour and tapestry weaving demonstration ($45, $36 members; register at 412-622-3288).
April 17 -- 2:30 p.m., "Conserving Tapestries," free lecture by Marlene Eidelheit, director of the Textile Conservation Laboratory at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York. Carnegie conservator Michael Belman will introduce the program and conduct a question-and-answer session.
But they are also laced with moral messages that would have been evident to the contemporary viewer. Bacchus, or his companion Silenus, for example, rides a goat in the sky of "Autumn," a caution against allowing festivities to become a Bacchanalia. The fire in the background of "Winter" may speak to the commonplace hazards of building with wood, or be a reminder of the Last Judgment and the punishment for sinful behavior. Boreas, the North Wind, hovers over a castle that may resemble the home of the tapestry's patron.
There's no subtly to the symbology of "The Triumph of Hope," a segment of the multi-paneled "The Triumphs of the Seven Virtues," made circa 1530 in Brussels.
Hope, holding a scythe and sickle representing time or harvest, rides in a boat led by a phoenix, symbol of rebirth. She's surrounded by Old Testament figures such as Daniel, caged with lions; Jonah, whose ship is breaking apart; Moses with the Ten Commandments; and Judith with the head of Holofernes. Above all is God, arriving to raise them to Heaven.
The 14-by-18-foot tapestry was sent to the renowned Textile Conservation Laboratory at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City for restoration. Several dips in the lab's washbasin removed centuries of dust and soot, and, where necessary, fibers were replaced using color-matched thread.
The decision to send it to New York was made, Stewart said, because "Hope" is an important piece, it needed to be cleaned, and some "slits" were beginning to open. The sheer weight of a tapestry will begin to pull it apart, because of the way it's woven, at the places where one color stops and another begins.
Two other tapestries underwent restoration by Textile Conservation Services in Washington, D.C.
"The Defeated Pompey Meeting His Wife at Sea," from "The Story of Julius Caesar," was given to the museum in the same year, by George Leary. Its bountiful border, crowded with objects such as shields and crowns, spills into the narrative and places the origin of the work in mid-17th century Flanders.
The tapestry having the most glorious history, "Alexander Entering Babylon in Triumph," from "The Life of Alexander," woven in 1691, was given by David S. Goldhirsch in 1955.
King Louis XIV of France, who had fancied himself equivalent to the sun god Apollo, found a new model in Alexander the Great. His Minister of Finance, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, developed a strategy to package the King's image "as a strong and benevolent ruler, and realized the arts could play a crucial role," Stewart said.
Royal appointments were granted to the greatest talents in arts and culture, and Louis XIV became, at least allegorically, a central figure in plays, poetry, paintings, sculpture, ballet and musical compositions.
Among this output were five monumental depictions of Alexander's episodes by Charles Le Brun, First Painter to the King. These were woven into like-sized tapestries at Gobelins.
With all of the pageantry of a Hollywood film, Alexander triumphantly rides into the conquered city in a chariot pulled by an elephant, preceded by trumpets, accompanied by warriors on muscular horses draped with leopard skins, and surrounded by accouterments of status and power.
Finally, "The Holy Family Attended by Angels," an early 16th-century Flemish piece of wool, silk, and silver and gold threads, was a 1966 gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Scaife.
Stewart suggests the 9-by-6-foot work was made for a side chapel. A regally dressed Holy Family is attended by angels in a Hortus Conclusus, or enclosed garden, symbol of the Virgin, as are the roses in the border. A clothed Christ child rests his hand on the Old Testament, which foretells his coming. The canopy behind Mary is lined with a rich fabric in a 15th-century pomegranate pattern, often a symbol of fertility. A dog symbolizes fidelity and faith.
It took a minimum of four weavers nine to 14 months to weave 32 square yards, approximately the size of "Hope." Some sets measured 500 square yards. There are 16 to 20 stitches per inch in these tapestries.
Both men and women worked in the weaving factories, which were multi-generationally owned.
While they were accomplished craftspeople, errors may occasionally be found. Simmons explained that the weavers, who worked from cartoons, were "very skilled copyists who wove one pixel at a time and from behind. The warp was horizontal and the weft vertical," reversing standard practice.
The "full thickness weaving" employed is one reason for the tapestries' longevity, he added, as opposed to a technique such as embroidery, which may be rubbed off.
"The weaving becomes the fabric, the weaving is the fabric," Stewart said. "It is the surface, not an additive process."
Still it amazes to stand before a fiber object that's more than 400 years old and maintains such vibrant presence.
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