In the 19th century, the great American art collectors--Morgans, Mellons and Rockefellers-- followed the Continental Grand Tour routes established by the English nobility of the 18th century.

From the beginning of the 20th Century to the Art Deco 1930's, the next generation of American art collectors, as the inheritors of the tastes and travel savvy of the previous generation, purchased these so-called hand-loom tapestries in France as mementos, as well as to prove their own connoisseurship. Because of their rarity both in the United States and abroad, especially France, where few remain, these hand loomed tapestries have become very collectable.