Tapestries once at Chastleton House and Their Influence on the Image of the Tapestries Called Sheldon: A Reassessment

Abstract

The intentions expressed in William Sheldon's will of 1570 suggest an attempt to introduce tapestry weaving at Barcheston, Warwickshire. Interpreted in the 1920s as resulting in a commercial venture – the only production centre in Elizabethan England – tapestries were attributed to it without documentary evidence, without stylistic comparison with continental work and without study of the records of émigré Flemish weavers settling in London from 1559 onwards. Their presence and more easily available comparative material, in both documentary and tapestry form, combine W question the previous picture, never revised. On re-examination, the historical evidence used to link tapestries found at Chastleton House with Sheldon's enterprise appears weak. Challenging the time-honoured belief that those tapestries should be regarded as key pieces in the Sheldon corpus also calls into question subsequent attributions made by association, and opens the way for a new exploration of the tapestry industry in sixteenth-century England.

Some Small Tapestries of Judith with the Head of Holofernes: Should They Be Called Sheldon?

“…The examples selected here illustrate the problems of reconciling the characteristics of supposed Sheldon products and the long-held view of the Sheldon workshop with new documentary evidence both about Barcheston and for the presence of émigré tapestry weavers in London. 2 The existence of these men was ignored by, and was possibly even unknown to E. A. B. Barnard who, with A. J.…”

“…Published in 1928, the basis of their work was always hypothetical. It can now be further questioned because more easily accessible archives and more detailed studies of tapestries shed more light Textile History, 41 (2), 161-181, November 2010 Some Small Tapestries of Judith on the project and on its background than was then possible. New ancillary research indicates just how far a reassessment should probably reach.…”

The Role of the Sheldon Family in Establishing the Tapestry-Weaving Workshops Associated with Their Name

“… 16. Dr Turner's contention that the fact that Hicks was allowed to employ 6 people was the equivalent of denization does not carry conviction: Turner 2008b, 332. …”