Les Tapisseries Des Gobelins

1951 • Directed by

Alain Pol

Documentary

In 1602, King Henri IV decided to develop French manufacturing to limit imports of products such as carpets and tapestries, of which the royal court was a major consumer. In 1662, Colbert (Minister of Louis XIV) bought the buildings and decided to create there the "Royal Manufacture of Crown furniture and tapestries", where upholsterers settled, but also painters, goldsmiths, engravers, cabinetmakers... Reserved to the furnishing of Royal Houses and diplomatic presents. To make this documentary, Alain Pol uses a new process developed by the French Lucien and Armand Roux. They had developed a color cinema technique with the "Rouxcolor" process, a patent filed in 1932. A simple process, which preceded the arrival of the American technicolor, less precise, but requiring special equipment for cinemas, which cut his career short.