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This and the following lot (lots 79-80) are related to several series woven during the first decades of the 16th century in Flanders, just as the new design ideology coming from Italy with The Acts of the Apostles series by Raphael was being woven in Brussels. Most tapestry series created in these first years of the Northern Renaissance period initially remained firmly in the Gothic tradition, while introducing some tentative innovative ideas. DESIGNER These narrative tapestries reflect the painterly manner of Jan van Roome, who was one of the most important tapestry designers of the period, and who was active as early as 1498 and received numerous important commissions from Margaret of Austria between 1509 and 1521. Series such as The Story of Herkenbald (Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels) and The Story of David and Bathsheba (Musée de la Renaissance, Ecouen) are respectively documented works by him or attributed to him. The number of tapestries that date between 1500 and 1520 and that are frequently attributed to him are, however, simply too many to have been designed by one person. It is most probable that the majority of figures and compositions were taken from prints or paintings that were also re-used for other tapestries. An attribution of this series to him can therefore not be made, although it is certainly executed in the manner of van Roome (A. Cavallo, Medieval Tapestries in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1993, pp. 546 - 547 and N. Forti Grazzini, et al., Mirabilia Ducalia, Vigevano, 1992, pp. 60 - 65). Another set of tapestries that is attributed quite closely to van Roome and that relates to this tapestry is a set depicting The Story of Mestra in the Hermitage Museum (N.Y. Biryukova, The Hermitage Leningrad, Gothic and Renaissance Tapestries, London, 1965, figs. 49 - 60). DATE AND PLACE OF MANUFACTURE Closely related to these tapestries in terms of costume and treatment of space is also The Prodigal Son Sets Out in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (C. Adelson, European Tapestry in The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1994, cat. 4, pp. 56 - 69) which shows the same early influences of Italian Renaissance ideas by giving the individual figures volume and space. It is believed that these ideas reached cartoonists of the north when Raphael's cartoons of The Acts of the Apostles were sent from Rome to Brussels between 1516 and 1517. This type of composition continued to be used until about 1530 which would place the Wildenstein tapestries in that period. Traditionally the weaving of this group of tapestries has been attributed to Brussels because of the records that indicate that The Story of Herkenbald, to which all these tapestries are compared, was woven by Léon de Smet in Brussels in 1513. More recent studies have, however, proven such attributions difficult because numerous weaving centres of the region produced very similar works, although the majority of these tapestries are still believed to have been manufactured in Brussels.

A FRANCO-FLEMISH SEIGNEURIAL TAPESTRY

EARLY 16TH CENTURY

Details

A FRANCO-FLEMISH SEIGNEURIAL TAPESTRY
EARLY 16TH CENTURY
Woven in silk and wool, depicting an enthroned youth being presented a chalice by a kneeling lady and with various attendants surrounding the event, the horizon with some trees and buildings, within a floral column border and a later green outer guard border, areas of re-weaving, some heightening in surface color
10 ft. 6½ in. (321 cm.) high; 8 ft. 7½ in. (263 cm.) wide

Provenance

Anonymous sale, Christie's New York, 13 January 1993, lot 241.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

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