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Lot Essay
The Life of Decius Mus tapestry series depicts Decius Mus and Titus Manlius leading the Roman armies against the Latins at Capua (340-338 B.C.). Both consuls had a dream in which a giant predicted that the leader of the one people and the army of the other would be sacrificed to the underworld. Consequently, one leader had to be prepared to lay down his life should the army of the adversary suffer defeat. This story was portrayed as an example of patriotism. This subject, although not central to the story, seems to have been added very early on to the existing main panels. It was to demonstrate how Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were born of the association between Mars and Rhea Silvia and it was thus the introduction of the Roman 'virtues'. It is possible that this subject was intended to be part of a Story of Remulus, a series that in the end never materialised.
This series was the first truly baroque tapestry design and replaced the Raphael designs of the early 16th Century such as the Acts of the Apostles, which had previously been very popular and continued to be woven throughout the 17th Century, although to a lesser degree. Being Peter Paul Rubens' (d. 1640) first tapestry set, designed in 1615, it was also the first replacement of the old series by a major designer and it guided tapestry design into a new phase. Six oil-paintings that served as basis for the cartoons (there appear to have existed more at one point) were bought in 1696, and still remain in the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein in Vaduz (Liechtenstein, The Princely Collections, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, nos. 210-217). The longest set of this series consists of fourteen tapestries, although several of them are clearly not designed by the same hand.
The series was first commissioned by Franco Cattaneo for a group of Genoese noblemen on 9 November 1616 from the ateliers of Jan Raes the elder (d. 1631) and Frans Sweerts. The contract stated that Rubens was to make the patterns, but also to judge the quality of the weaving which would have an effect on the price of the tapestries. (D. Heinz, Europische Tapisseriekunst des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, Vienna, 1995, pp. 40-42, and G. Delmarcel et al., Rubenstextil, exhibition catalogue, Antwerp, 1997, pp. 39-47)
A set of eight tapestries from this series woven by Jan Raes and Jacob Geubels remains in the Spanish Royal Collection and is illustrated in P. Junquera de Vega and C. Diaz Gallegos, Catalogo de Tapices del Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid, 1986, vol. II, pp. 89-97, series 52. A set of four tapestries depicting this subject, with varying borders and signed by Jan Leyniers was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 6 May 1955, lot 130. A tapestry depicting The Dismissal of the Lictors from this series by Frans van der Hecke was sold anonymoulsy in these Rooms, 26 November 1996, lot 238, while another illustrating The Consecration of Decius Mus to the Underworld was sold anonymoulsy in these Rooms, 1 October 1998, lot 233. A tapestry of identical design, but lacking the lower border was sold anonymoulsy in these Rooms, 9 December 1993, lot 374.
This series was the first truly baroque tapestry design and replaced the Raphael designs of the early 16th Century such as the Acts of the Apostles, which had previously been very popular and continued to be woven throughout the 17th Century, although to a lesser degree. Being Peter Paul Rubens' (d. 1640) first tapestry set, designed in 1615, it was also the first replacement of the old series by a major designer and it guided tapestry design into a new phase. Six oil-paintings that served as basis for the cartoons (there appear to have existed more at one point) were bought in 1696, and still remain in the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein in Vaduz (Liechtenstein, The Princely Collections, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, nos. 210-217). The longest set of this series consists of fourteen tapestries, although several of them are clearly not designed by the same hand.
The series was first commissioned by Franco Cattaneo for a group of Genoese noblemen on 9 November 1616 from the ateliers of Jan Raes the elder (d. 1631) and Frans Sweerts. The contract stated that Rubens was to make the patterns, but also to judge the quality of the weaving which would have an effect on the price of the tapestries. (D. Heinz, Europische Tapisseriekunst des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, Vienna, 1995, pp. 40-42, and G. Delmarcel et al., Rubenstextil, exhibition catalogue, Antwerp, 1997, pp. 39-47)
A set of eight tapestries from this series woven by Jan Raes and Jacob Geubels remains in the Spanish Royal Collection and is illustrated in P. Junquera de Vega and C. Diaz Gallegos, Catalogo de Tapices del Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid, 1986, vol. II, pp. 89-97, series 52. A set of four tapestries depicting this subject, with varying borders and signed by Jan Leyniers was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 6 May 1955, lot 130. A tapestry depicting The Dismissal of the Lictors from this series by Frans van der Hecke was sold anonymoulsy in these Rooms, 26 November 1996, lot 238, while another illustrating The Consecration of Decius Mus to the Underworld was sold anonymoulsy in these Rooms, 1 October 1998, lot 233. A tapestry of identical design, but lacking the lower border was sold anonymoulsy in these Rooms, 9 December 1993, lot 374.