This woven silk portrait of the inventor was based on a painting by Claude Bonnefond (1796–1860) commissioned by the city of Lyon in 1831. The Lyon manufacturer Didier, Petit et Cie ordered the silk version from weaver Michel-Marie Carquillat, a specialist in this kind of work. Producing the image required 24,000 punched cards. Each card had over 1,000 hole positions. "The delicate shading, crafted shadows and fine resolution of the Jacquard portrait challenged existing notions that machines were incapable of subtlety. Gradations of shading were surely a matter of artistic taste rather than the province of machinery, and the portrait blurred the clear lines between industrial production and the arts."
The Jacquard loom ties together two of Manchester's most important historic industries: textile manufacturing and computing. Read on to find out how it both revolutionised the production of patterned cloth and also inspired the development of early computing.
The ancient craft of weaving, originating in the Neolithic era, can be traced back almost 12,000 years. It began as a simple process where early humans intertwined branches and twigs to construct shelters that protected them from the weather. The primary tool, known as the loom, was initially a basic frame made from branches. The loom held warp yarns in place, which were stretched taut, while filling yarns were manually woven through them.
Punchcard Each thread is represented by a specific dot location on each card. Each hole controls the lifting of the hook which carries and guides the warp thread so that the weft will either lie above or below it. The lace's basic pattern (one repetition) is as long as the punchcard chain