Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/67

 GOBELINS 59 the eggs be disturbed, the birds remove them their mouths (according to Audubon, who itnessed the fact), and place them in another locality ; they probably remove the young in the same manner. They manifest a great an- tipathy to all kinds of snakes. They leave the United States about the middle of August. The whippoorwill (A. vociferus, Wils.) and the night hawk (chordeiles Virginianus, Briss.) will be described under their proper titles. The scis- sors-tailed species (C.furcifer, Vieill.) of Para- uay is remarkable for the length of the outer thers of the tail, gradually diminishing to tip. Among the podagerince is the Leona tsucker (macrodipteryx longipennis, Shaw), native of Africa, having the innermost quill the wings extremely prolonged and deficient webs except at the end, and longer than the itself. The genus podager (Wagl.) has ig wings and short even tail, and short and .thered tarsi ; it is found in the warmer parts of South America, frequenting fields and moist places, usually in pairs, but occasionally in large flocks, chasing insects in the full light of day ; it lays two eggs on the bare ground. Most of the goatsuckers have the inner edge of the iddle claw pectinated, like a comb, for the rpose of cleansing the bristles of the bill m remains of insects and particles of dirt. GOBELINS, Manufactory of the, an establish- ent in Paris belonging to the French govern- ent, devoted to the production of tapestry d carpets. It is situated in the faubourg Marcel, upon the Bievre, being No. 254 Mouffetard. It derives its name from the others Jehan and Gilles Gobelin, who discov- an improvement in scarlet dye, and erect- this building as they believed that the water the little stream Bievre possessed qualities vantageous to their art. Jehan, the head the Gobelin family, died in 1476 ; some intain that he was a native of Rheims, and hers that he came from Holland. His scar- dye soon rose into great repute. The tablishment was purchased by Louis XIV., .d transformed in 1667 into the manufacture ale des meubles de la couronne. The royal ry was not only a dye house and a manu- tory of tapestry, but an immense workshop which everything was executed that was eeded for furnishing and decorating houses, vers in metal and gold and silversmiths roduced chandeliers, torch-holders, candle- cks, and statuary bronzes, in keeping with e magnificent tapestry designs, which skilful eavers wrought after patterns furnished by e royal painters ; cabinet makers carved, rned, and gilded the wood of the furniture ; orentine artists inlaid beautiful mosaics ; and us everything, even the knobs and locks of dows and doors, was executed in the high- style of art. The royal painter, Lebrun, as the director of this immense establishment, ignard, who succeeded Lebrun, opened in it school of design. Though the works were ~.y to execute private orders, their prosper- ered ity was chiefly dependent on the patronage of Louis XIV. ; and when, on account of the pe- cuniary embarrassments of the crown after the year 1694, this patronage was withdrawn, all the skilled workmen had to be dismissed. Af- ter the peace of Ryswick (1697) the Gobelins was opened again, but the operations were re- stricted to the manufacture of tapestry, which was generally made only for presentation to crowned heads and persons of distinction. The revolution threw the establishment into neg- lect, and Napoleon gave it little encourage- ment ; but the Bourbons, who returned to the old custom of making gifts with the celebrated tapestry, brought it again into a flourishing con- dition, in which it remained, with slight inter- ruptions, till it was partly burned by the com- munists, May 24, 1871. The manufactory of the Gobelins is now divided into three distinct sections : the dye house, the tapestry workshop, and the carpet factory. The dye house pro- duces not only all different colors, but from 20 to 30 shades of each. While many of the hang- ings worked 50 years ago are already faded, the factory is now able to produce any color perfectly fast. This great progress is due to the labors of the eminent chemist Chevreul, who was employed by the government to in- struct the Gobelins dyers. Large rooms are devoted to the Jiautes lisses, or high warps, upon which the tapestries are suspended as the work goes on. The warp hangs from a horizon- tal cylinder, and as every yard or thereabout in length is completed, it is wound upon an- other cylinder in the lower part of the frame. The principal features of the design being traced with white chalk by the artist upon the stretched thread of the warp, he marks, with the aid of tracings from the picture, which he attaches to the warp, the exact positions of the light and dark shades. Then, with the pattern con- veniently placed for reference, the artist sta- tions himself against the back of the tapestry, and, with his worsteds and silks at hand, be- gins to work in the different colors. The ver- tical threads of the warp are divided by a hed- dle or cross stick which keeps half of them in advance of the rest ; but those behind can be brought forward whenever required by means of small cords, one of which is attached to each warp thread. The left hand is introduced be- tween the two sets of threads, taking up as many as need be, and through these tbe needle is passed from left to right. The thread when stretched is piled with the point of the needle, and is then passed back in the contrary direc- tion through the space opened by shifting the position of the front and back threads. By ingeniously combining the woofs, the colors are made to blend perfectly, and effects are obtained like those of painting. The work is so slowly executed that an artist is not expect- ed to average in a year a production of more than about 39 inches square. In 1826 the manufactory of carpets, called la savonnerie, from an old soap factory in which the making