At the time of the marriage of Anne of Bretagne with Charles VIII., the chateau of Ambroise was furnished for them; Andre Denisot and Guillaumc Mesnagier, working weavers of Tours, worked there: the latter hung a piece of silk tapestry representing the history of Moses, and he had executed besides, a large carpet in the Moorish fashion. In 1494, on the occasion of a visit of the Duke and Duchess de Bourbon, all the tapestries were ordered to be spread in the courtyards of the chateau, and the history of the Ages was particularly remarked among them, as well as those of Alexander, Ahasuerus and Esther, the "Cite des Dames," the history of David, that of the "Neuf Preux," of Renaud de Montauban, and the Romance of the Rose.

From the commencement of the sixteenth century the efforts of our kings tend to restore France to her rank in the tapestry industry. In 1529, Nicollas and Pasquier de Mortaigne deliver a silken hanging representing Leda, satyrs, and other sylvan divinities. Francis I. founds an establishment at Fontainebleau, directed by Philibert Babou, sieur de la Bourdaizicre, and subject to the superior inspection of Sebastian Serlio, for which Claude Badouyn, aided by Lucas Remain, Charles Carmoy, Francisque Cachenemis, and J. B. Baignequeval, furnished patterns at the rate of twenty livres per month; the workmen, too, were placed under the direction of Salomon and Pierre de Herbaines, keeper of the furniture and tapestries of the chateau. Henri II. entrusted Philibert de l'Orme with the set for his establishment at Fontainebleau, while creating a new manufactory in Paris, at the hospital of the Trinite, rue Saint Denis. This asylum for poor orphans received a hundred boys and thirty-six girls, who were taught different trades; they were styled "enfants bleus," because they were dressed in that colour, and were seen about the city following the funerals. It was in this ancient asylum, and in the hall where the brethren of the Passion had given their first theatrical representations, that the celebrated tapestry of the history of Mausoleus and Artemisia was executed by command of Queen Catharine de Medicis, in memory of her widowhood, and crowded with emblems of her grief, and with the motto she had adopted since the death of her husband: "Ardorem extincta. testantur vivere flamma" - they attest that the warmth survives, although the flame is extinct; a motto illustrated besides by the emblem of a mountain of quick lime, watered by drops of rain.

Fragment of a tapestry of the Fifteenth Century. (Collection of M. Gogue Robin).

This tapestry, composed of several pieces, measured sixty-three ells in length, by four in breadth; it was repeated several times. Some inventories have attributed this work to Antoine Caron.

The Trinite also furnished the tapestry of Saint Merry from the drawings of Henri Lerambert, a magnificent series of twelve pieces executed by Dubourg, and measuring thirteen feet in height by twenty in breadth. A specimen of it still existed in the church in 1852, but in so deplorable a condition that M. Achille Jubinal could only take a head of Saint Peter from it, which he offered to the Cluny museum, where it may still be seen.

Charles IX. in his turn built a manufactory at Tours, where, with Leram-bert's drawings, a tapestry of Coriolanus was commenced, the execution of which was prolonged until the reign of Henri IV.; a series of twenty-seven pieces, a hundred and seventeen ells long, in which the military actions of Henri III. were represented, was also made there.

Struck with the beauty of the Saint Merry hangings, Henri IV. resolved to attempt another effort in favour of the high warp industry; he established a workshop in the faubourg Saint Antoine, in the house of the banished Jesuits, directed by Laurent, with whom he associated Dubourg; he placed under their orders some Italian artisans in gold and in silk; then some Flemish weavers, who being placed under the direction of Fourcy, intendant and governor of the buildings, obtained various privileges; to protect the works, the introduction of foreign tapestries was prohibited.

In 1603, when the Jesuits returned and took possession of their house, the manufactory was installed in the galleries of the Louvre. In 1607, two skilful tapestry weavers, Marc de Comans and Francois de la Planche, came from Flanders, attracted by the privileges offered to them; they had an exclusive right, for five-and-twenty years, to the tapestry termed "facon de Flandre;" exemption from the tax, a subsidiary pension; the grant of apprentices by the king; the privileges of a master, "maitrise," and of opening a shop without producing specimens of his craft; exemption from the taxes on stuffs, that is the wools and silks necessary for work, and the creation of breweries. In return, they were bound to employ at least eighty looms, and sell at the same price they sold at abroad.

This manufactory, installed in the part of the palais des Tournelles that still remained standing, augmented by some accessory constructions, had this peculiarity, of selling to private persons, while working for the king's household.

On the death of Lerambert, Henri IV. caused a competition to be opened in order to replace him; two painters were chosen; these were Dumee, already entrusted with the care of the pictures of the Chateau de Saint Germain, and Guyot, each having a salary of 150 livres a year.

The subject for competition was the tapestry of the Good Shepherd; it was executed in twenty-six pieces of a hundred and seven ells, also a tapestry of the Flight of the Heron, and that of the Loves of Gombault and Mace, mentioned by Moliere in the "Avare," of which a copy may have been seen at the Exhibition of the History of Costume at the Palais de l'lndustrie, copied by the manufactory of Brussels.