The Art of Tapestry

More than 600 tapestries hang in National Trust properties around England and Wales. Dating from around 1400 onwards, their rich, colourful designs and grand scale convey deep cultural, political, religious and symbolic messages. When new, they represented the epitome of luxury and status, woven by highly skilled teams of craftspeople using vibrant and expensive threads. This illustrated study by tapestry expert Helen Wyld, in association with the National Trust, explores what these tapestries can tell us about the British aristocracy's projection of wealth and power, and their place in wider Western European art traditions.