Tapestry, the art of weaving decorative textiles, is one of the most ancient artistic forms. It was widespread in the early Babylonian, Persian, Egyptian and Indian civilisations, as well as in Ancient Greece, where tapestries adorned the walls of the Parthenon, in pre-Columbian Peru, and among tribes such as the Navajo Indians.
Tapestries have been produced down the ages in many different cultures, for the aristocracy and for ordinary citizens. They were used to cover and decorate the walls and floors of public and private places, and even for clothing. The weavers of those tapestries were regarded by their contemporaries as innovative artistcrafstmen, who with skill and patience, and by various techniques, took the designs of other artists on paper or canvas and transformed them into richly coloured textiles.
Some of the earliest and most beautiful tapestries were woven in the 5th and 6th centuries by the Copts in Egypt. Their looms consisted of a simple frame with a roller at each end. In the Middle Ages, when tapestry weaving became an important form of employment, new techniques were developed to create illusions of light and shade. During the Renaissance, weavers succeeded in reproducing every brush stroke and nuance of the image by a skilled mixing of dyes.