NARRATOR: This monumental tapestry marks a new cultural moment, born of both entrepreneurial spirit and a booming economy. To produce it required extraordinary craftsmanship (and a budget to match). To commission it, was, for one monarch, a way of broadcasting his grand ambitions to Europe. The Met's Wolf Burchard:

WOLF BURCHARD: Tapestry weaving was hugely important in the Middle Ages, but the monopoly really was with Flanders and with Flemish weavers. And both the King of France and the King of England wanted to produce their own So they founded the Gobelins manufactory in Paris, at the very beginning of the 17th century, and the Mortlake tapestry manufactory outside London.

NARRATOR: Mortlake's studio hired the best émigré craftsmen available: Flemish weavers, as well as the German designer Frans Cleyn, who was brought on to oversee the complex productions. We can still appreciate them for their remarkable craftsmanship, such as the almost cinematic quality of the mythical scenes, populated with mind-bogglingly three-dimensional figures.

Who bankrolled these fantastic weavings, and why? Some clues: he had deep pockets, lofty tastes, and the patience to wait years for a work of art to be crafted to his specifications.

Meet King Charles I. Charles understood that art and design–be it clothing, paintings, or tapestries–were tools for power. And kings like him deserved absolute power. As he put it himself:

CHARLES I: Princes are not bound to give an account of their Actions but to God alone.

NARRATOR: Partially because of this belief, twenty years of civil war divided England. Charles is remembered not only as an iron-fisted ruler, but also as one of the day’s most important patrons and collectors. He wore his power on his sleeve, literally; you can find a painted portrait of him sporting a luxurious costume of gold and silver thread above the staircase behind you.