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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.). The two generals had a vision and decided that victory could only be achieved with the sacrifice of one of them, which was to be Decius Mus. This scene depicts Decius Mus being consecrated to the Underworld.
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, Europäische Tapisseriekunst des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, Vienna, 1995, pp. 40-42, and G. Delmarcel et al., Rubenstextil, exhibition catalogue, Antwerp, 1997, pp. 39-47)
The mark to the lower right outer slip is almost certainly that of Jan Leyniers (d. 1686), but it was altered with a restoration. The Leyniers family can be traced back to the 15th Century when they also worked in the dyeing industry. In the 17th Century they were among the foremost weaver dynasties in Brussels. Jan, who received the privileges in 1661, initially worked with his father Everaerd (d. 1670) but soon established his own very successful atelier.
A set of eight tapestries from this series woven by Jan Raes and Jacob Geubels remain in the Spanish Royal Collection and are 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 identical borders and signed by Jan Leyniers were sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 6 May 1955, lot 130, and probably included this tapestry as tapestry B. 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.
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, Europäische Tapisseriekunst des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, Vienna, 1995, pp. 40-42, and G. Delmarcel et al., Rubenstextil, exhibition catalogue, Antwerp, 1997, pp. 39-47)
The mark to the lower right outer slip is almost certainly that of Jan Leyniers (d. 1686), but it was altered with a restoration. The Leyniers family can be traced back to the 15th Century when they also worked in the dyeing industry. In the 17th Century they were among the foremost weaver dynasties in Brussels. Jan, who received the privileges in 1661, initially worked with his father Everaerd (d. 1670) but soon established his own very successful atelier.
A set of eight tapestries from this series woven by Jan Raes and Jacob Geubels remain in the Spanish Royal Collection and are 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 identical borders and signed by Jan Leyniers were sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 6 May 1955, lot 130, and probably included this tapestry as tapestry B. 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.