Working on the first full catalogue of Sir William Burrell’s tapestries was an amazing opportunity for Glasgow Museums’ textile conservators to examine their contents using a variety of photography techniques. At their simplest, tapestries comprise plain undyed horizontal warps and coloured vertical wefts that are woven into wonderful images.
For the conservation team, the challenge was to understand the tapestries’ construction and how they have changed over the centuries. Examination began with handling the fabrics, literally getting a feel for their strengths and weaknesses, and how they now hang. For each tapestry, our in-house photographers took a range of images: the front and back in normal and ultraviolet (UV) light, the front in raking light, lit only from one side, and selected details.
As we examined each tapestry, we referred to A3 prints to make direct comparisons of the colours on the front and back, note any tonal changes and identify from UV images where there had been additions made, or changes in types of fibre used, such as wool and silk. Detailed shots we took show the role texture and weaving technique played in the creation of these historic images.
Triumph of the Virgin was in several pieces when it came into Burrell’s collection, but was restored and rewoven in the 1930s by the Cambridge Weaving Company. We are fortunate to have records of this and our UV images confirmed which were the rewoven sections. Analysis shows that the tapestries are not flat and that weaving techniques, such as short slits or wrapping, as well as colour, were important in the depiction of subjects.
For instance, curved and angled lines of a single weft wrapped around successive warps, or a series of slits or holes, can show details, such as the lines in a face, without the need for any change of colour. Where colours change, different lengths and widths of hatching affect both the shading and the strength of the tapestry.
In the exhibition of Burrell tapestries at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, you can almost feel the rough texture of the rush matting depicted, the luxuriousness of the bedcover and the stiffness of the linen in the c.1518 tapestry Beatrix Soetkens in Bed, due to the way it was woven.
The photography part of the project took 18 months to complete and the examination the same time again. Most of this work was carried out in public in the Burrell’s temporary exhibition gallery, giving visitors a chance to see what we did. Their questions helped shape the information about the conservation of the tapestries that we chose to include in the catalogue.
For me, one of the most important results of our examination of the tapestries has been a greater appreciation of the weavers’ skill and the generations who have cared for these objects.
Helen Hughes is a textile conservator at Glasgow Museums, based at the Burrell Collection. Burrell at Kelvingrove: Tapestries is on until 30 November at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow
For the conservation team, the challenge was to understand the tapestries’ construction and how they have changed over the centuries. Examination began with handling the fabrics, literally getting a feel for their strengths and weaknesses, and how they now hang. For each tapestry, our in-house photographers took a range of images: the front and back in normal and ultraviolet (UV) light, the front in raking light, lit only from one side, and selected details.
As we examined each tapestry, we referred to A3 prints to make direct comparisons of the colours on the front and back, note any tonal changes and identify from UV images where there had been additions made, or changes in types of fibre used, such as wool and silk. Detailed shots we took show the role texture and weaving technique played in the creation of these historic images.
Triumph of the Virgin was in several pieces when it came into Burrell’s collection, but was restored and rewoven in the 1930s by the Cambridge Weaving Company. We are fortunate to have records of this and our UV images confirmed which were the rewoven sections. Analysis shows that the tapestries are not flat and that weaving techniques, such as short slits or wrapping, as well as colour, were important in the depiction of subjects.
For instance, curved and angled lines of a single weft wrapped around successive warps, or a series of slits or holes, can show details, such as the lines in a face, without the need for any change of colour. Where colours change, different lengths and widths of hatching affect both the shading and the strength of the tapestry.
In the exhibition of Burrell tapestries at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, you can almost feel the rough texture of the rush matting depicted, the luxuriousness of the bedcover and the stiffness of the linen in the c.1518 tapestry Beatrix Soetkens in Bed, due to the way it was woven.
The photography part of the project took 18 months to complete and the examination the same time again. Most of this work was carried out in public in the Burrell’s temporary exhibition gallery, giving visitors a chance to see what we did. Their questions helped shape the information about the conservation of the tapestries that we chose to include in the catalogue.
For me, one of the most important results of our examination of the tapestries has been a greater appreciation of the weavers’ skill and the generations who have cared for these objects.
Helen Hughes is a textile conservator at Glasgow Museums, based at the Burrell Collection. Burrell at Kelvingrove: Tapestries is on until 30 November at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow
