Tea at Trianon: Toile de Jouy, circa 1760

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Toile de Jouy, circa 1760

From The Irish Times:

The popularity of Toile de Jouy has endured for more than 250 years. Literally it means cloth from the town of Jouy near Versailles in France where it originated, but it has come to mean a single-colour print usually of a historic pastoral scene on a white background. With cotton now taken so much for granted, the history of the development of this delicately decorative fabric is worth noting. When cotton arrived in France from India in the 17th century, it prompted panic at government level, with fears the new light and versatile fabric that could be used for clothing and home furnishings would seriously damage the indigenous silk and wool industries. So it was banned for nearly 100 years – although it was imported clandestinely.

When the ban was lifted in 1759, pent-up demand resulted in several factories springing up. The Oberkampf factory in Jouy-en-Josas produced simple printed fabrics, typically with geometric or basic floral designs using woodblock printing, which tended to produce crude, rather small-scale repeated patterns. Copper-plate fabric printing which was already being used in Ireland – where it was invented in the 1750s by Francis Nixon – crossed the channel and it facilitated large-scale, highly detailed patterns at Jouy with themes ranging from bucolic country scenes to allegorical images. It also allowed for a more sophisticated approach to colour as it permitted a more subtle approach to light and shade.

Marie-Antoinette – who visited the factory in 1781 – and Empress Josephine adored it and it soon became highly fashionable for aristocratic interiors. A toile-de-jouy bedroom with walls and bed covered in the printed design became a popular choice – and to get a cosy and classy look particularly in old houses it still is. Famous artists including Fragonard were commissioned to create designs and thousands of different ones were produced at the Jouy factory. By 1805, the Oberkampf factory employed more than 1,300 people and the factory closed in the 1840s. Without the protection of copyright, the designs were widely copied and applied to everything from wallpaper to plates. (Read more.)