“Fables of Fontaine” Furnishing Fabric
c. 1815
Medium
Cotton; roller printed
Dimensions
316.2 × 85.1 cm (124 1/2 × 33 1/2 in.)
Classification
textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
256789
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The late 18th and early 19th centuries were an incredibly fertile period for innovation in the European textile industries, especially in the field of direct printing. Decades of experimentation led to the development of a variety of ways to apply color and pattern to cloth, which enabled artists and designers to invent new design vocabularies and quickly respond to cultural trends and ideas. One of the most enduring of these innovations was the ability to print on cloth with copperplates and th...
About the Artist
Hartmann et Fils
**Hartmann et Fils** was a prominent French textile manufactory based in Munster, Alsace, renowned for its high-quality printed cotton fabrics (indiennes) that blended industrial innovation with artistic design. Founded in 1818 by André Hartmann (1746–1837) together with his sons Frédéric and Henry, the firm built upon André’s earlier ventures in the region, which dated back to the late 18th centu...