Beauvais Tapestry

Beauvais tapestry, any product of the tapestry factory established in 1664 in Beauvais, Fr., by two Flemish weavers, Louis Hinart and Philippe Behagle. Although it was under the patronage of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the finance minister to Louis XIV, and was subsidized by the state, the Beauvais works was a private enterprise.

Tapestries were made at Beauvais for the wealthy bourgeoisie and nobility of France, as well as for export. The royal tapestries for the king were made exclusively at the Gobelins factory. In the 19th century the quality began to deteriorate and production declined.