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History of

Hand Painted Floor Canvases

By Antosa ©

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

1899 W B Yeats

By Antosa ©™


(click on photos to enlarge)

Spring time Paris 2010

Inspired to create in the City of Love & Beauty Paris.

I began Researching into ancient 14th century French floor coverings and the relevance they had on the development of Floor-coverings in the UK, Scotland and Internationally

Hand Painted Floor Canvases

My research is on-going and has taken much time, patience and with a fine tooth comb I have been able to lovingly uncover more and more interesting facts about ancient floor coverings which I shall share a few gems with you!

Below Fragment of a Painted Floor Plaster, pigment New Kingdom, reign of Akhenaten, ca. 1352-1336 B.C.

Hand Painted floors have been found in Ancient Egypt & exquisite colorful Mosaic flooring adorned ancient Greece and Rome.

In Ancient and in 21st cent India Rangoli for festivals are created and although they are not permanent floor paintings they are in themselves utterly exquisite in their colour and design

This is a precis of the knowledge gained so far as I continue to compile my research on this subject. And I would be delighted to hear from anyone who can add more to this subject :)

Hand Painted Floor Canvases


My research into Hand Painted Floor Canvases only dates back as far as 14th century France where painted oil cloths were used as decorative wall hangings and table coverings.


Evidence so far has proved that Hand painted floor Canvases started to be manufactured in England by 1740 Oilcloths/ floor cloths became tremendously popular from 1700-1800

Hand Painted Floor Canvases was a predecessors of other types of floor covering such as linoleum for which Scotland in particular Kirkcaldy became world famous.


Floor Canvases are hand-painted canvas rugs. These floor-canvases below, are from a late 1800s catalog A variety of patterns and designs could be purchased, including geometric patterns and floral designs

Victorian Hand-Painted Floor-canvas Patterns

Victorian Hand-Painted Floor-canvas Patterns

This once flourishing industry has been all but forgotten, mainly because so few examples have survived. Perhaps the oldest cloth surviving in situ is the charming floor-canvas in the Swedish Royal Palace of Tullgarn, dating from 1800.

This cloth is not factory manufactured but painted as a one-off.

Its existence suggests that perhaps other cloths were also painted for European palaces at this period.

24 carat Gold leaf embellishes all my Original Art Designs & is my Signature

Copyright Laws©™

All sketches Illustrations & designs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved to Antosa Isherwood, © and may not be used by anyone including painters, floor cloth manufacturers or other artists. Under UK & International Copyright laws, unauthorized reproduction and/or use are illegal and subject to fines.

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