Lot Essay
This tapestry is the eighth and last panel of a series depicting Scenes of Country Life, designed by Jakob Jordaens (1593-1678) around 1630. In 1615 Jordaens joined the guild of the Waterschilder in Antwerp and in the beginning designed the cheaper tempera on linen replacements for tapestries. He soon became extremely successful and had a large atelier producing paintings and cartoons for tapestries. Many figure groups in his works are represented both in his oil paintings as well as in tapestries. From this particular subject the central figure can also be found in two oil paintings and is also included in his painting of Ulysses and Circe.
The Scenes of Country Life series was, with the History of Alexander, the first tapestry set designed by Jordaens and was first woven in the atelier of Geubels. Four cartoons remain today in various museums. Jordaens in this series, unlike in the traditional tapestry designs where the workshops created their own borders, conceived them integrally as architectural settings, not merely framing the subject, but giving it visual placement in space.
Conrad van der Bruggen, master in 1622, who is known to have cooperated on the first waeving of this subject, is believed to have woven at least six sets of the Scenes from Country Life. One set remains today at Castle Nachod in the Czech Republic, and a further set is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien (illustrated in L. Baldass, Die Wiener Gobelinssammlung, Vienna, 1920, plates 196-203, this subject also by Conrad van der Bruggen being 203). A further version of this subject, lacking a weaver's mark, from the collection Bracquenie, is illustrated in H. Schmitz, Bildteppiche, Berlin, 1921, p. 250.
The Scenes of Country Life series was, with the History of Alexander, the first tapestry set designed by Jordaens and was first woven in the atelier of Geubels. Four cartoons remain today in various museums. Jordaens in this series, unlike in the traditional tapestry designs where the workshops created their own borders, conceived them integrally as architectural settings, not merely framing the subject, but giving it visual placement in space.
Conrad van der Bruggen, master in 1622, who is known to have cooperated on the first waeving of this subject, is believed to have woven at least six sets of the Scenes from Country Life. One set remains today at Castle Nachod in the Czech Republic, and a further set is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien (illustrated in L. Baldass, Die Wiener Gobelinssammlung, Vienna, 1920, plates 196-203, this subject also by Conrad van der Bruggen being 203). A further version of this subject, lacking a weaver's mark, from the collection Bracquenie, is illustrated in H. Schmitz, Bildteppiche, Berlin, 1921, p. 250.