The Home Beautiful: The Activities of the Farm Toile, 1792

The Victoria & Albert Museum

The term “toile” is a French word which came into the English language in the Sixteenth Century and referred specifically to plain linen or canvas. By the late Eighteenth Centuries, French and English craftsmen were using “toile de jouy,” a phrase which has since been shortened to simply, “toile.” “Toile de juoy” referred to a specific printed linen which depicting very complex scenes (ranging from the pastoral to the courtly) in a bold color (blue, red, green, brown, black, purple) on a light-colored background.

I’ve always been a fan of toile and very much enjoy the look of it because it conveys at once a sense of elegance and casual charm. This particular toile from the Victoria & Albert Museum dates to 1792 and was printed from a copperplate designed by Jean-Baptiste Huet, manufactured by the firm Oberkampf. With its detailed scenes of “the activities of the farm” depciting idealized peasant women and their pets on a background of antique structures comes from fragments from the collection of Madame Mayoux, a Parisian gallery owner and collector, who donated the scraps to the V&A in 1919. It’s quite gorgeous, isn’t it?

Toile de Jouy is still manufactured today in a variety of colors and with a wide array of scenes and themes. The addition of toile works for any room in your home and is an excellent way to inject elegance into any space.

Her Majesty’s Furniture: The Jouy-en-Josas Upholstery Fabric, 1785

Furnishing Fabric
French, 1785
The Victoria & Albert Museum

We all know that I like toile. I come from a family of toile-lovers actually and a visit to our homes proves that.

Grape harvests were popular among the pastoral scenes which were printed on cotton toile textiles in the late Eighteenth Century. This example in red on white was printed at the factory established in 1760 by Christopher-Philippe Oberkampf (1738-1815) at Jouy-en-Josas--a village located between Paris and Versailles, the main residences of the French court at the time.

These products were printed with copper plates and their crisp patterns caught the attention of the French elite. Oberkampf’s firm was so highly regarded that Louis XV named it a Royal Manufacture.

Mastery of Design: The Activities of the Farm Toile, 1792

The Victoria & Albert Museum

The term “toile” is a French word which came into the English language in the Sixteenth Century and referred specifically to plain linen or canvas. By the late Eighteenth Centuries, French and English craftsmen were using “toile de jouy,” a phrase which has since been shortened to simply, “toile.” “Toile de juoy” referred to a specific printed linen which depicting very complex scenes (ranging from the pastoral to the courtly) in a bold color (blue, red, green, brown, black, purple) on a light-colored background.

I’ve always been a fan of toile and very much enjoy the look of it because it conveys at once a sense of elegance and casual charm. This particular toile from the Victoria & Albert Museum dates to 1792 and was printed from a copperplate designed by Jean-Baptiste Huet, manufactured by the firm Oberkampf. With its detailed scenes of “the activities of the farm” depciting idealized peasant women and their pets on a background of antique structures comes from fragments from the collection of Madame Mayoux, a Parisian gallery owner and collector, who donated the scraps to the V&A in 1919. It’s quite gorgeous, isn’t it?

Toile de Jouy is still manufactured today in a variety of colors and with a wide array of scenes and themes. The addition of toile works for any room in your home and is an excellent way to inject elegance into any space.

Term for the Day: Toile

In the Sixteenth Century, the original word “toile” referred to linen-cloth or canvas, specifically a cloth meant to be painted upon.  Today, we use the word “toile” to refer to what the French would have called, “toile du jouy.”  Toile du jouy is a decorative fabric used as upholstery or drapery which depicts a complex, repetitive scene.  The design is usually comprised of a pastoral scene of people engaged in bucolic activities such as enjoying a picnic in a grove or reveling in a field of flowers. 

Toile often portrays several different scenes joined together by flowers or other natural elements to create a pattern that repeats.  Most toiles render these scenes in a color, such as red, blue, purple or black against a lighter, neutral colored background which is often white, cream or gold, however other variations exist.  Occasionally, the scenes are depicted in solid color outlines which feature other colored details, making the composition seem more like a painting.  While most popular in fabrics, toile designs have also found their way into china and pottery.  The overall effect of toile is one of elegance and refinement which adds a gracefulness to any room.