designer whose importance has not
lessened in the descent of the centuries.

What makes Bataille of special interest to us is that we cannot only
read of him in fascinating chronicles as well as dry histories, but we
can ourselves see his wondrous works. In the cathedral at Angers hangs
a tapestry executed by him; it is a part of the _Apocalypse_
(favourite subject) drawn by Dourdin, who was artist of the cartoons
as well as artist to Charles V.

In those days the weaver occupied much the same place in relation to
the cartoonist as the etcher does now to the painter. That is to say,
that because the drawing was his inspiration, the weaver was none the
less an artist of originality and talent.

These celebrated hangings at Angers, although commenced in 1376 for
Louis of Anjou, were not completed in all the series until 1490,
therefore Bataille's work was on the first ones, finished on
Christmas, 1379. The design includes imposing figures, each seated on
a Gothic throne reading and meditating. The larger scenes are topped
with charming figures of angels in primitive skies of the "twisted
ribbon" style of cloud, angels whose duty and whose joy is to trump
eternally and float in defiance of natural laws of gravitation.

The museum at the Gobelins factory in Paris shows to wondering eyes
the other authentic example of late Fourteenth Century high-warp
tapestry, as woven in the early Paris workshops. It portrays with a
lovely naive simplicity _The Presentation in the Temple_. This with
the pieces of the _Apocalypse_ at Angers are all that are positively
known to have come from the Paris workshops of the late Fourteenth
Century.

History steps in with an event that crushed the industry in Paris.
Just when design and execution were at their highest excellence, and
production was prolific, political events began to annihilate the
trade. The English King, Henry V, crossed the Channel and occupied
Paris in 1422. Thus, under the oppression of the invaders, the art of
tapestry was discouraged and fell by the way, not to rise lustily
again in Paris for two hundred years.

FOOTNOTES:

[5] Eugene Muentz, "La Tapisserie."

[6] For extensive reading see Guiffrey, "Nicolas Bataille, tapissier
parisien," and "L'Histoire General de la Tapisserie," the section
called "Les Tapisseries Francaises."

CHAPTER IV

FIFTEENTH CENTURY IN FRANCE AND FLANDERS

Whether Arras began as early as Paris is a question better left
u