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拍品專文
This tapestry forms part of a series depicting The Life of Noah, which was designed by the 'Flemish Raphael' Michel Coxcie (1499 - 1592). Coxie was probably a student under Bernard van Orley and lived in Italy for several years. He returned to Flanders in 1543 and supplied various cartoons to tapestry weavers. One set of The Life of Noah, probably the first one to be completed and consisting of eight panels, was supplied to King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland as part of the 142 tapestries he purchased in The Netherlands between 1548 and 1572 (G. Delmarcel, Flemish Tapestry, Tielt, 1999, pp. 130 - 134). It was recorded in an inventory drawn up upon the marriage of the King to Catherine of Austria in 1553. Another set with the four elements border was supplied by the most famous weaver of the period, Willem de Pannemaker, to Philip II of Spain in 1559, but was lost when the shipment sank. Four years later a second set consisting of ten panels was completed for him and four tapestries of it remain today in the Spanish Royal Collection (P. Junquera de Vega and C. Herrero Carretero, Catalogo de Tapices del Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid, 1986, vol. I, cat. 37, pp. 268 - 272, this subject on p. 272). For these weavings, Philip II had also purchased the cartoons that were kept in Brussels for him. Further sets are today in the Museum of Barcelona, the Kusthistorisches Museum in Vienna and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
Many of the great 16th Century tapestry series continued to be woven in the 17th Century, albeit with reworked cartoons and altered borders. Paulus van Nieuwenhove, of whom little is known, also wove a set of Genesis, also designed by Coxcie, which is today in the Toms collection, Lausanne. Another set of five panels of The Life of Noah, one of which was also signed by Nieuwenhove, was sold in these Rooms from the property of the Rt. Hon. The Earl of Iveagh, 4-5 June 1968, lot 210. Altough this subject was lacking from that set, small differences in the border design indicate that this tapestry probably never formed part of that set. A probably 16th Century set of this subject from the property of Capt. B.C. Vernon, Wentworth Castle, Barnsley, Yorkshire, was sold in these Rooms, 20 November 1919, lot 100.
Many of the great 16th Century tapestry series continued to be woven in the 17th Century, albeit with reworked cartoons and altered borders. Paulus van Nieuwenhove, of whom little is known, also wove a set of Genesis, also designed by Coxcie, which is today in the Toms collection, Lausanne. Another set of five panels of The Life of Noah, one of which was also signed by Nieuwenhove, was sold in these Rooms from the property of the Rt. Hon. The Earl of Iveagh, 4-5 June 1968, lot 210. Altough this subject was lacking from that set, small differences in the border design indicate that this tapestry probably never formed part of that set. A probably 16th Century set of this subject from the property of Capt. B.C. Vernon, Wentworth Castle, Barnsley, Yorkshire, was sold in these Rooms, 20 November 1919, lot 100.