Gobelins Manufactory in the context of Paris Métro

René-Antoine Houasse (c. 1645–1710) was a decorative French painter.

He was a pupil of Charles Le Brun, under whose direction he worked at the Manufacture des Gobelins, and with whom he worked on the decoration of the Château de Versailles. He was the director of the French Academy in Rome from 1699 to 1704.

Tapestry is a form of textile art which was traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Normally it is used to create images rather than patterns. Tapestry is relatively fragile, and difficult to make, so most historical pieces are intended to hang vertically on a wall (or sometimes in tents), or sometimes horizontally over a piece of furniture such as a table or bed. Some periods made smaller pieces, often long and narrow and used as borders for other textiles. Most weavers use a natural warp thread, such as wool, linen, or cotton. The weft threads are usually wool or cotton but may include silk, gold, silver, or other alternatives.

In late medieval Europe, tapestry was the grandest and most expensive medium for figurative images in two dimensions, and despite the rapid rise in importance of painting it retained this position in the eyes of many Renaissance patrons until at least the end of the 16th century, if not beyond. The European tradition continued to develop and reflect wider changes in artistic styles until the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, before being revived on a smaller scale in the 19th century.

Les Gobelins (French pronunciation: [le ɡɔblɛ̃]) is a station on line 7 of the Paris Métro on the edges of the 5th and 13th arrondissements.

This station is named after Avenue des Gobelins, which honoured the Gobelin family who manufactured dyes from the mid 15th century on the banks of the nearby river Bièvre (now covered in the area). The family manufactured tapestries from 1662 until its factory (adjacent to the station) was acquired by Louis XIV. It is located at the crossroads of four main roads: avenue des Gobelins, Boulevard Saint Marcel, Boulevard Arago, and Boulevard de Port-Royal.

The Mobilier national is a French statutory corporation which administers the Gobelins Manufactory and Beauvais Manufactory. It is based in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, and falls under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture.

Its history goes back to the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne, which was responsible for the administration of all furniture and objects in the royal residences. The Mobilier national continues to administer state furniture but has also expanded from its historical role of conserving, preserving, and restoring furniture to curating a modern collection.

Michel Eugène Chevreul (French pronunciation: [miʃɛl øʒɛn ʃəvʁœl]; 31 August 1786 – 9 April 1889) was a French chemist whose work contributed to significant developments in science, medicine, and art. Chevreul's early work with animal fats revolutionized soap and candle manufacturing and led to his isolation of the heptadecanoic (margaric), stearic, and oleic fatty acids. In the process, Chevreul became the first scientist to define the concept of a chemical compound and the first to formally characterize the nature of organic compounds; he is consequently considered a founder of modern organic chemistry.

In the medical field, Chevreul was first to demonstrate that diabetics excrete glucose in the urine and to isolate creatine. Chevreul's study of textile dyes while director of the Gobelins Manufactory in Paris led to color theories that "provided the scientific basis for Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painting."