Information about Gobelins Manufactory

The Manufacture des Gobelins is a tapestry factory located in Paris, France. It is in the Avenue des Gobelins, near the Les Gobelins métro station in the XIIIe arrondissement. It is best known as a royal factory supplying the court of Louis XIV and later monarchs; it is now run by the French Ministry of Culture.

The Gobelins were a family of dyers, who in the middle of the 15th century established themselves in the Faubourg Saint Marcel, Paris, on the banks of the Bièvre.

Royal factory

In 1662 the works in the Faubourg Saint Marcel, with the adjoining grounds, were purchased by Jean-Baptiste Colbert on behalf of Louis XIV and made into a general upholstery factory, in which designs both in tapestry and in all kinds of furniture were executed under the superintendence of the royal painter, Charles Le Brun. On account of Louis XIV's financial problems, the establishment was closed in 1694, but it was reopened in 1697 for the manufacture of tapestry, chiefly for royal use, and rivalled the Beauvais tapestry works until the French Revolution, when work at the factory was suspended.

The Bourbons revived the factory during the Restauration, and in 1826 the manufacture of carpets was added to that of tapestry. In 1871 the building was partly burned down by the Communards. The factory is still in operation as a state-run institution.

References

See Lacordaire, Notice historique sur les Manufactures impériales de tapisseries des Gobelins et de tapis de la Savonnerie, précédée du catalogue des tapisseries qui y sont exposées (Paris, 1853); Genspach, Répertoire détaillé des tapisseries exécutées aux Gobelins, 1662–1892 (Paris, 1893); Jules Guiffrey, Histoire de la tapisserie en France (Paris, 1878–1885). The last two authors were directors of the factory.