These two beautifully produced books by Yale add significantly to the corpus of literature on tapestry, a highly significant genre of figurative textiles, many of which were designed by the leading artists of their day. The artistic and technical expertise of tapestries is often overlooked, especially when they are viewed as examples of the decorative arts rather than high-quality works of art that were designed to convey specific visual messages. The first book, Tapestry in the Baroque, addresses this issue very clearly. It was written to accompany the very well-received exhibition of the same name held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from 17 October 2007 to 6 January 2008 and then at the Palacio Real, Madrid, from 6 March to 1 June 2008. The exhibition attracted such favourable comment because it brought together forty-five high-quality tapestries from fifteen different collections, to tell the story of European tapestry design, production and collecting in the Baroque period (1570–1720). Over half of the tapestries were from Flemish workshops, emphasizing just how important Brussels and the other Flemish studios were for tapestry weaving in this period. However, the scope and diversity of tapestry production was also stressed by examples drawn from the workshops of the Medici and Barberini, as well as Mortlake and the Gobelins.

This is an excellent exhibition catalogue, but it is more than that, as the text is organized to function both as a catalogue and as a monograph, with contributions from sixteen international tapestry specialists. This structure will ensure that the book will significantly outlast the ephemeral display and that it remains influential. The volume begins with an introduction, on the golden age of Netherlandish weaving. That is followed by thirteen chapters, of which ten are followed by the pertinent catalogue entries, while the other three focus on tapestries in context, collectors and connoisseurs, and continuity and change in tapestry use and design, thus giving structure and direction to the analysis. The structure also helps draw out the three main strands of the argument that is presented in the text: first, the visual significance of tapestry iconography in this period; second, how tapestry designs reflected ideas of royal magnificence and political power; and third, the specific ways in which tapestry design developed in this period with the cultural inspiration coming from the Low Countries, France and Italy. As such this book takes the ideas about the artistic, social and political significance of tapestry presented in the exhibition and catalogue, Tapestry in the Renaissance: art and magnificence (2002), also by Campbell, and takes them further.

Koenraad Brosens contributed the last essay in Campbell’s volume on Flemish tapestry production between 1660 and 1715 and he edited the second book under review here, which presents a detailed analysis of the significant and wide-ranging permanent tapestry collection at the Art Institute of Chicago. Guy Delmarcel notes in his Foreword that there are nearly one hundred pieces of tapestry in the collection, sixty-two of which are presented in the catalogue.

The volume begins with a group of short preliminary essays including an overview of the collection and its donors and a review of the full conservation of the collection over thirteen years at the De Wit Royal Manufacturers, Mechelen, Belgium. While these essays are interesting, the true value of this book lies within the catalogue entries, which provide much original research and give a detailed analysis of the impressive collection of tapestries. The catalogue is divided into five sections which give a clear indication of the scope and richness of the collection: Franco-Flemish tapestries, 1450–1520; Flemish tapestries, 1500–1750 (Brussels, Antwerp, Bruges and Flanders); French tapestries, 1600–1800 (Paris, Beauvais and Aubusson); tapestries from Basel, Italy, Holland, England and Peru; and table carpets. These sections are followed by a visual summary of the weavers’ marks and signatures, a concordance and a full bibliography.

Taking one entry as an example, ‘The Holy Family with the Infant Christ Pressing the Wine of the Eucharist’ (cat. no. 4), a tapestry from the southern Netherlands (1485–1525), the text provides a full technical summary, including warp and weft count, as well as the spin and ply of the threads, including the metal-wrapped threads, provenance, references to the piece in publications and occasions when the tapestry has been exhibited. More importantly, it provides a detailed analysis of the composition and reproduces other tapestries of the same design in other collections. For researchers interested in specific designs, weavers or studios, this book has much to offer. The detailed, comparative analysis of the tapestries themselves is a characteristic of both books, as is the large number of colour illustrations (both overall shots and details), which are essential for any successful study of this type. Both of these books will prove very useful in different ways for people interested in tapestries’ design and production and the part they played in Baroque elite society.