PLATE C,
Of the origin of the art of paper-hanging in France —that country in which it has attained so greata celebrity—there exist but uncertain indications ; there is, of course the usual competition between Englandand France as to priority of invention, but, so far as actual authority is concerned, we cannot learn that theforeign manufacture exhibited any material developenient previously to the end of the seventeenth century.
M. Savory* speaks of a sort of flock-hangings called “ tontures de laine; ” these were manufactured atRouen, and their purpose seems to have been to supply the place of tapestries. Patterns in flock of variouscolours, in imitation of the figures on the tapestries, were printed on these tontures de laine, which served fortl ground, though of a very coarse texture. “ The artist,” observes M. Savory, “ having prepared his design,drew on the cloth, with a fat oil or varnish, the subject intended to be represented, and then the flocker,h’om a tray containing the different tints of flocks, arranged in divisions, took the colours he required, andsprinkled them in a peculiar manner with his finger and thumb, so that the various shades and colours’Were properly blended, and an imitation of the woven tapestry produced.”
Printing by blocks is not mentioned in this passage, but wooden blocks and patterns are still preservedin France , bearing the date of 1620 and 1630.
A French name occurs as follows, in a book of travels of one Mr. lleinecken,f (mentioned by Beckmannin his “ History of Inventions,”) who writes, “ Before I leave the Hague , I must not omit to mention M. Eccard’sparticular invention for making paper-hangings. He prints some which appear as if worked through with goldand silver; they are fabricated with taste, and are not dear.” There really, however, seems to be but little^formation on the subject previous to the end of the last century. For the following, which gives someexplanation of the subject, we are indebted to the Report of M. Zuber of RixheimJ :—“Towards the end ofthe last century, about 1780, the manufacture of paper-hangings passed from England into France . Thenianufacturers who first established themselves were Arthur and Robert; Reveillon followed them. It was inthe pillage of the factory of the latter, situated in the Fauxbourg St. Antoine, that the Revolution of 1789commenced. The third was named Legrand. All these manufacturers opened their establishments in Paris .In 1790 the house of Zuber commenced business at Muhlhausen , and a little later, Joseph Dufour openeda factory at Macon, but after a time removed to Paris ; subsequently, several considerable factories wereestablished at Lyons : but Paris shortly became the centre of this branch of French industry, and has sinceMaintained this position up to our day, following in this the example of London , which in a few yearsconcentrated within itself the whole of this important manufacture of England. Germany commenced thefabrication of paper-hangings after France, but upon a very limited scale ; then followed Switzerland, Holland ,and Belgium, on a scale still smaller; Vienna, in Austria , and later Warsaw, witnessed the establishment offactories on elements taken from our house. Russia had its imperial factory at Szarko Szelo, which consumed
Dictionnaire de Commerce.'” -j- Nachrichten von Kiinstlern und Kiinstsachen. Ceipsig, 1768.
+ f Report upon the Manufacture of Paper-hangings, read before the Industrial Society of Muhlhausen at the sitting of the 27th of August,1851, by M. Jean Zuber, fils, formerly President of the Society.”