Tea at Trianon: Restoration of the Doddington Hall Tapestries

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

Monday, July 1, 2019

Restoration of the Doddington Hall Tapestries

From The Lincolnite:

The tapestries are important for two reasons. Firstly, the way they were chopped up and nailed to the walls like wallpaper, is very unusual. Normally tapestries were woven to fit panels and treated like a painting within a decorative scheme.

Secondly, the Doddington tapestries are very rare examples of the coarser, every day tapestries which were made in large quantities but not cherished and looked after like their more finely stitched and expensive counterparts. While more of the expensive, fine tapestries survived, there are few examples like those at Doddington.

Claire said: “We’re so excited to be able to unveil the newly conserved tapestries. We took an unusual approach in doing the work in full view of our visitors, but it was worth it; visitors have been fascinated and they, along with us, the conservators, funders, volunteers are all thrilled to see the result.

“As owners and guardians of the Hall our focus is always on the upkeep, maintenance and preservation of the house and estate for the future and this project has helped show visitors just what this involves.” (Read more.)

More HERE. Share