of flowers thrown on a damask background;
but, with such surety of hand, such elegance, are these ornaments
designed and composed, that he who but runs past them must feel the
power of their exquisite beauty.

In this manufacture of small pieces the Gobelins factory unhappily put
itself on the same footing as Beauvais and much confusion of the
products has since resulted. The dignity of the art was lowered when
the size and purpose of tapestries were reduced to mere furniture
coverings. The age of Louis XV, looked at decoratively, was an age of
miniature, and the reign that followed was the same. When small
chambers came into vogue, furniture diminished to suit them, and not
only were walls too small for tapestries to hang on, but chairs, sofas
and screens offered less space than ever before for woven designs, now
preciously fine in quality and minutiae.

Tapestry weaving now entered the region of fancy-work for the
drawing-room's idle hour, and we see even the king himself, lounging
idly among his favourite companions, working at a tiny loom, his
latest pretty toy. Compare this trifling with the attitude of Henri IV
and Louis XIV toward tapestry weaving, and we have the situation in a
nutshell.

Louis XV passed from the scene, likewise the charming bits of
immorality who danced through his reign. However much we may
disapprove their manner of life, we are ever glad that their taste
sanctioned--more than that--urged, the production of a decorative
style almost unsurpassed. To the artists belong the glory, but times
were such that an artist must die of suppression if those in power
refuse to patronise his art. So we are glad that Antoinette Poisson
appreciated art, and that Jeanne Verbernier made of it a serious
consideration, for, what was liked by La Pompadour and Du Barry must
needs be favoured by the king.

When Louis XVI came to the throne, the return to antiquity for
inspiration had already begun, but did not fully develop until later
on, when David became court painter under Napoleon. Yet the tonic note
of decoration was classic. Designs were still small and details were
from Greek inspiration. As tapestries were still but furniture
coverings, this was not to be regretted, for nothing could be
better suited to small spaces, nor could drawing be more exquisitely
pure and chaste than when copied from Greek detail.

[Illustration: CHAIR OF TAPESTRY. STYLE OF LOUIS XV]

[Illustration: GOBELINS TAPESTRY (D