Too fragile or a fuss about nothing? The battle over the Bayeux Tapestry

As a rule, textiles experts don’t tend to get involved in public spats. They tend to spend most of their time in darkened rooms, pouring over historic fabrics in strict temperature controlled conditions.

But since the artist David Hockney denounced this year’s highly anticipated loan of the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry to the British Museum as “madness”, they have been caught in the crosshairs.

Declaring that “some things are too precious to take a risk with”, the 88-year-old artist argued that “even minor mishandling could cause irreparable damage” such is the weakened state of the 230ft-long linen and wool tapestry, technically known as an embroidery. “The linen backing is weakened by age, and the wool embroidery threads are vulnerable to stress,” he wrote. “Rolling, unrolling, or hanging it in a new way can cause tearing, stitch loss and distortion of the fabric.”

Controversy has long raged over whether the priceless early medieval artefact, which depicts the Battle of Hastings across 58 fiercely exciting scenes, should be removed from the Bayeux Museum in Normandy, where it has been on display since 1983. (In fact, the tapestry has already been withdrawn ahead of a move to a permanent home in a specially designed building in Bayeux and is currently in storage.) A French campaign against Macron’s decision to loan it, spearheaded by the French art historian Didier Rykner, has gathered 70,000 signatures, while since Hockney’s intervention, textile experts from various corners of the globe have come forward to voice their concern.

“The tapestry is irreplaceable,” Shirley Ann Brown, professor emerita of art history at York University in Toronto, told The Independent. “No matter the amount of care taken, there is always an element of risk, and it’s not worth it.”

Yet in a battle of opinion shaping up to match the events on the battlefield at Hastings itself, others disagree. “I think some people’s imaginations have been over-reaching here,” says Gale Owen-Crocker, professor emerita at Manchester University and author of a forthcoming book, The Design of the Bayeux Tapestry. “Of course the tapestry is extremely fragile, but the British Museum is very used to transporting precious artworks. We shouldn’t dismiss their expertise.”

She argues that as it is, the former conditions at the Bayeux Museum were less than ideal. “It was hung vertically instead of at a slight tilt, which means the two-ply wool pulled on the linen, while the backing material was believed to be chipboard and jute, which many conservators didn’t think was a good idea. And it was not displayed in a straight line; it curved round on itself, which made it harder to see the many pictorial echoes it contains. 

“I think the British Museum intends to remedy these things. The assumption that they won’t be able to supply safe conditions is absurd.”

The Bayeux Tapestry – not seen in England for 900 years – prompts such strong reactions not just because it depicts a decisive moment in British history, but because it has miraculously survived, almost intact, for nearly a millennia.

Almost certainly produced in Kent by female seamstresses under Norman patronage (most likely that of William the Conqueror’s half-brother, Bishop Odo), it has endured centuries of neglect, abuse and plunder; been used as a covering for military wagons during the Napoleonic wars and coveted by Himmler during the Second World War.

Only on Thursday, Germany returned two tiny fragments stolen by a German scientist in Nazi-occupied France. “It’s a very romantic story,” says Owen-Crocker. “Given its size, it is extraordinary that it has been saved again and again. Although one reason is because it is made from such homely materials [such as linen and wool, rather than gold thread and gem stones]. Many similar embroideries would have been destroyed during the Renaissance period. It’s a domestic ornament, and we have no equivalent.”

All the same, most of the argument over whether it ought to journey across the channel is technical rather than sentimental. “It’s not an undertaking to be taken lightly, given its age and its fragility,” says one textile expert who preferred not to give their name. “It’s made of organic material which, even in the most closely monitored environment, wants to degrade. As items age, they lose moisture, they become more brittle, which is where vibration can prove damaging. But it’s also worth remembering that items of this age and older, but less newsworthy, do travel without attracting so much fuss. And there are people within the conservation factor that have spent years studying the science of conservation. We shouldn’t underestimate all the planning on both sides that will have been involved to safeguard it.”

“Hockney is right to worry about the effect of light on the colour [of the embroidery] but I think only long exposure to light would do that,” adds Owen-Crocker. “Some damage of that sort has already been done – there was a very attractive blue at one point but it has faded to light green. But most of the colours haven’t faded in centuries of exposure. Transporting it to London will be nothing compared to that.”

The British Museum are reluctant to divulge too much about their operation to transport it, although they did confirm they will carry out a dry run first using a facsimile tapestry ahead of the transfer proper to test out the impact of vibration. “It is a sensitive operation and for security reasons we can’t share much detail,” a spokesperson said. “The Museum will carry out condition checks at all stages of the loan, upon arrival and departure at the BM as well as upon its return to France. Our teams are working closely with colleagues in France on every aspect of the loan including transport and display, in what is a truly binational operation.”

More broadly, the loan taps into the live issue of cultural ownership and the question of which countries get to house culturally sensitive objects. To be fair, the Bayeux Tapestry doesn’t fit neatly into this argument. Although its provenance is almost certainly English, no one seriously disputes it ought not to be on permanent display in France. Yet many support the idea that the British should at least have a chance of being able to see it on home turf. “Loaning the tapestry, or rather, the “embroidery” – is an opportunity of reaching out and making it available to a wider audience, and that can only be a good thing,” says Ksynia Marko, a textiles conservator based in Norfolk. “Outreach and accessibility are today’s mantras in the museum and heritage world.”

Another expert tells me: “It tells us an awful lot about armies and conflict, but also about ourselves at a distant point in history. Yes, you can always travel to Bayeux to see it, but for many people it’s not that simple. And you could argue there is little point having such treasures if people can’t get to see them.”

Meanwhile, Owen-Crocker anticipates the Bayeux Tapestry display to be one of national significance, as monumental as the Tutankhamun exhibition of 1972.

“The British Museum is a national museum,” she says. “And being able to see the Bayeux Tapestry deserves to be a national experience.”