There is an awful lot of misinformation about the tapestries in the Grand Master’s Palace in Valletta.

Some confuse the tapestries in what used to be the Parliament Chamber with the tapestries in St John’s Co-Cathedral, whereas, in fact, although coming from almost the same period, the two sets are quite different. This is not just because those in the Palace were made at the famous Gobelin factory in Paris and the ones in St John’s came from Flanders, but also because the Parisian ones feature exotic plants and animals while those in St John’s depict the triumph of the Catholic faith in post-Counter-Reformation tones.

Last Tuesday, Claire Bonavia gave a lecture on the tapestries in the Palace as part of the series Rediscovering the Grand Master’s Palace being held at the Palace under the patronage of the President and organised by Salvatore Mousu.

Ms Bonavia is a textile conservator and works with Heritage Malta, following 20 years with the Maltese National Museums Department. She has worked at the Opera Museo Stibbert of Florence on Napoleon’s cape, trousers, waistcoat, socks and gloves, and later was in charge of the Maltese National Costume Collection and worked in preparation of Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti’s ‘Costumes in Malta’ exhibition held at the Palace some time ago.

On the academic side, she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in textile conservation with a thesis on Pope Alexander VII’s antependium at St John’s, followed by a Master’s degree in Applied Conservation Studies with a thesis on ‘Country Folk Costumes in Malta’.

What follows does not necessarily derive from Ms Bonavia’s lecture, but from various sources.

The first misconception to be addressed concerns the nature of the hall in which the tapestries are hung. According to a DOI pamphlet on the subject, this room was the Sala del Maggior Consiglio, but according to Dr Giovanni Bonello, this is wrong: the Sala del Gran Consiglio was what we know today as the throne room, whereas what we call the Tapestry Chamber was the Sala del Piccolo Consiglio, where the Grand Master met a more restricted number of councillors.

There is then a rather quirky side to the story. The room has always been the same as it is now but the tapestries had to be adjusted to fit it. In fact, two of the tapestries go around the corners of the room and two had to be split up. The DOI information has it that: “As the original Tenture des Indes ((meaning ‘The Indian Hangings’) cartoons (as they are known) consisted of eight compositions, agreement was reached that the design of L’Éléphant and Le Chasseur Indien were each to be divided into two sections each, to better accommodate the wall area in the Council Chamber.”

In fact, however, the Gobelin factory had lost the original dimensions of the room sent to it by the Order and these had to be sent a second time. This was not, however, the reason why two tapestries had to be split and go around corners. The tapestries were executed on cartoons already retouched by Desportes, who had been at work in 1692 and 1693, correcting the original cartoons made after the paintings of Eckhout, at a time when the haute lisse studios were entrusted with the execution of the Tentures des Indes.

At the time the Tenture des Indes enjoyed fame and celebrity as they were splendid illustrations of the exotic plant and animal kingdom of the New World.

They were the result of studies made by two Dutch artists during an exploratory expedition to Brazil between 1637 and 1644. The newly-appointed Dutch governor, Prince Johan Maurits of Nassau, led a group of scientists and artists, including Albert Eckhout and Frans Post, to Brazil, where they studied and painted the unusual plant and animal life of the country. Many of the plants, fish, birds and other animals woven into this tapestry can be traced to life studies made by Eckhout and Post in South America.

French artists at the Gobelin factory, who designed the cartoon to heighten the tapestry’s impression of drama and exoticism, probably introduced other animals, such as the Indian rhinoceros and the “striped horse” or zebra.

There are 10 sets of these Gobelin tapestries based on the ‘Indian’ cartoons, but it is only the set in Malta that is still complete and still in the place for which it was made.

The Gobelin workshop came into being in 1450 as a dyeing factory in a Paris suburb, founded by Jean Gobelin. It evolved into a tapestry weaving factory thanks to two Flemish weavers – Marc de Comans and Francois de la Planche – after they had been called to the Court of Henri IV in 1601.

In 1662, the Gobelin workshop became a centre of excellence when Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV’s minister of finance, took it over on behalf of the Crown, resulting in its official title becoming “Manufacture Royale des Meubles de la Couronne” (“Royal Factory of Furniture to the Crown”).

The first director, Charles Le Brun, brought together numerous craftsmen, including tapestry weavers, painters, bronze-workers, furniture makers, and gold and silversmiths, who supplied objects exclusively for the king’s palaces or to serve as royal gifts. As a result of financial difficulties, the factory was forced to close in 1694, reopening in 1699, but only to produce tapestries.

The tapestries woven at the Gobelin factory were the finest of any produced in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. Cartoons were ordered from leading painters such as Le Brun, Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Charles Coypel and François Boucher and skilled weavers were paid according to the difficulty of the work: those entrusted with heads and flesh tones received the highest wages.

During the reign of Louis XIV, tapestries celebrated the glory of the Sun King, but the 18th-century subjects were lighter and more frivolous. The most important innovation in 18th-century tapestries was the addition of alentours (borders). These wide frames depicted flora such as acanthus leaves and architectural devices surrounding a central scene.

Tapestries also imitated the effects of painting, and hundreds of new dyes were developed to create a range of tonal effects. Unfortunately, the ravages of light have now destroyed most of these subtle differences.

The tapestries in the Tapestry Chamber were adapted from paintings at the request of Louis XIV and purchased by Grand Master Ramón Perellos y Roccaful (1697-1720). The first series of such tapestries was not executed until 1687, but between 1687 and 1730, eight sets of the Anciennes Indes were commissioned and woven. Of these eight sets, the fifth was the one ordered by Perellos in 1708.

Some of the original cartoons can be found in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Perellos left the entire direction of the commissioning to Jean Jacques de Mesmes, Commandeur de Sommereux, who proceeded to Paris, reached agreement with the Gobelin factory and, on 22 October 1708, entered into a contract with the weaver then in charge of the Gobelin looms, Etienne Le Blond. The commission had to be finalised by March 1710.

The DOI document states that: “The Commandeur de Mesmes eventually informed Perellos that the completed tapestries were sent to Malta on 2 June 1710. They duly arrived without mishap in Malta, and are still to be seen on the walls of the room for which they were woven” but this is not exactly the case. The tapestries were sent from Paris to Marseilles by mule and then by brigantine to Malta. However, it seems that once at sea the precious hangings were about to be stolen and the Commandeur saved them by paying twice for their passage.

The Tenture des Indes in Malta has certain peculiarities which distinguish it from other sets of the same series. The set is woven in basse lisse and consists of 10 tapestries, instead of the usual eight. This is due to the fact that, as said earlier, two of them – L’Éléphant and Le Chasseur Indien – are divided into two.

The subjects are entitled: Le Combat d’Animaux (470 by 458cm); L’Indien à Cheval (470 by 350cm); Les Deux Taureaux (470 by 511cm); Le Cheval Rayé (470 by 504cm); Le Roi Porté (470 by 450cm); Le Chasseur Indien (470 by 430cm); Les Pêcheurs (470 by 400cm); Les Autruches (470 by 313cm); Le Cheval Isabelle (470 by 298cm) and L’Éléphant (470 by 408cm).

In general, all the tapestries are wider than the original cartoons. Thus the one showing the Le Roi Porté was widened by the addition of enormous plants to the right and left of the king and similarly, L’Indien à Cheval has been enlarged in the same way with the help of a large colocynth in the shape of a pear (no doubt a reference to the coat of arms of Perellos, which included pears).

Ms Bonavia gave an extraordinary amount of technical detail about the composition of the tapestries. They are woven in silk thread, which reflects light much better than wool and the thread was dyed by natural dyes (one must remember that Gobelin was originally a dyeing factory).

They were then woven by hand on huge looms with the cartoon serving as a model for the design. The tapestries were woven sideways since the loom was not wide enough to be able to take the height, and two sets of yarn were used – for the warp underneath and the weft.

The animals and plants featured in the tapestries are a document in themselves, including as they do exotic parrots, armadillos, turtles, fish, intricate basketwork, etc.

Having worked on the conservation of two tapestries from the set at the Conservation Department, Ms Bonavia could well explain the conservation process that was used. The tapestry is taken down and taken to the Throne Room, where it is properly rolled in preparation for transport. Careful documentation is kept of the state of the tapestry, with an examination by microscope.

Although the Tapestry Chamber is kept in near darkness, there has been some colour loss, though not to the same degree as, for example, in those in St John’s.

Surface dust has naturally accumulated and this has been made worse by the methods of cleaning used in the past, which compounded abrasions to the dust.

The tapestries have only left Malta once since they came here: when, once again, they had to cross the Mediterranean at the end of the 19th century. After a visit to Malta by one of Gobelin’s administrators (J. Guiffrey) in 1895, the tapestries were sent to the Gobelin factory to be restored. Work on them lasted several years and it was only in 1910 (the date inscribed on the blue border of the tapestry known as Les Deux Taureaux) that the final restoration was completed.

Ms Bonavia explained the methods used by her and her team on the two tapestries she conserved. Cleaning was carried out by suction and the use of a soft brush. When the tapestries were returned, some people thought they had been washed, but Ms Bonavia emphatically stressed that this was not the case. Although washing is sometimes carried out as part of the conservation of tapestries, it carries many dangers – from causing the colours to run to either stretching or shrinking the yarn.

The hanging system was changed from the original loops and rings that created creases in the tapestry, to a Velcro system that helped distribute the weight more evenly.

Apart from the eight big tapestries (that became 10 with the splitting), there are also five smaller ones over the room’s windows. These are mainly armorial and were also made at the Gobelin factory and, to tell the truth, are in better condition than the large tapestries.

Visitors to the Tapestry Chamber, who look back at the door, will notice that there is an empty space above the door and on either side of the it. While Ms Bonavia could not say what was originally on either side of the door, she said that another tapestry used to hang above the door. This was a tapestry made in Brussels but it was removed some time ago, possibly because it did not form part of the Tenture cycle, and today is to be found at the Museum of Fine Arts.

The Tapestry Chamber was, as said, the official meeting place of the Supreme Council of the Order of St John. During the early years of the British period, the chamber was used for social functions such as receptions and banquets. It later regained its original dignity as a Council Chamber and used for sittings of the Legislative Council and, after 1921, meetings by the Representative Maltese Government. The Chamber served as the seat of government for Malta’s House of Representatives until 1976.

There is one detail that will always exercise the memories of people interested in the political evolution of the people of Malta. One night, when Parliament was sitting, an irate Member (who this person was seems to vary between one or other of two MPs, both now dead) threw an inkpot at another Member, missed him and caused the ink to splash on one of the tapestries. It would seem this particular tapestry is not one that has recently been conserved and it would be interesting to learn what, if anything, became of the ink stains.

The next talk in this highly interesting series will be a fairly revealing one: on Monday, 30 January at 6pm, Judge Giovanni Bonello will speak about Deeds and Misdeeds at the Palace.