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Lot Essay
This series is based on Torquato Tasso's (1544-1595) Jerusalem Delivered of 1581. The epic poem relays the various crusades undertaked by the Christians against the Muslims to regain the grave of Christ. tancred, a Christian Knight, loved the Amazonian Clorinda, who fought for the opposing Saracens. In battle, not knowing who she was, he wounded her fatally but recognised her at that moment. Clorinda, before dying and after having heard that morning that she was the daughter of the King of Ethiopia and born a Christian, craved a Christian baptism. Tancred fetched water in his helmet and baptised her as she died.
This particular scene depicts Erminia, daughter of the King of Antioch, returning to her countrymen. Tancred conquered Antioch, but treated the defeated Erminia like a Queen. The city was, however, ruined so she was forced to emigrate to Jerusalem. She attempted to re-gain access to Tancred, for whom she had a secret passion, by borrowing Clorinda's armour. On leaving the city, however,she was pursued by the Christian, enemies and fled to Jordan where she discovered the peaceful life of the shepherds.
Designer
The designs for this series are attributed to Michelle I Corneille (1603-1664) and are believed to have been drawn between 1645 and 1650. Corneille based his design on a painting that was completed in circa 1640 by his friend Francois Perrier (d. 1649). His authorship is confirmed by the reference to two designs from the series in the inventory taken after his death. A friend of Eustache Le Sueur and raised by Simon Vouet, he was a co-founder of the Académie Royale de Peinture in 1648. His name still appears shortly before 1673 in the inventory of the Crown as having submitted designs for the Jeux d'enfants and Ancien et Nouveau Testament tapestry series.
Weavings
The set consisted of eight panels (Tancred meets Clorinda, Clorinda frees Olinda and Sophronia, Tancred gives Erminia her Liberty, Erminia returns to her Countrymen, Tancred baptising Clorinda, Erminia succours Tancred and Tancred orders the Tombstone for Clorinda). Upon the death of Rapha de la Planche in 1661, at least 20 pieces from this series, as well as the eight cartoons are mentioned in the inventory taken of his workshop, the Atelier du Faubourg Saint-Germain, which was founded in 1633. The series must therefore also have been woven in the years prior to that with the help of his son Sébastien-Francois, and it appears that there were deliveries of this series as late as 1692, long after the Royal Gobelins Tapestry manufacture was founded by Colbert in 1662.
Related Tapestries
Over 25 surviving tapestries from this series with six differing borders are recorded to date. This previously unrecorded tapestry is identical to that at Chaâteau Châteaudun and indicates thus that almost certainly two sets were woven with identical borders (Lisses et Délices, Chefs-d'Oeuvre de la Tapisserie de Henri IV á Louis XIV, exhibition catalogue, 1996,pp. 246). A tapestry from the same series depicting Tancred meets Clorinda with identically designed borders on a blue ground was sold anonymously in these Rooms 2 May 1997, lot 249, while a panel depicting Clorinda frees Olinda and Sophronia with borders omitting the putti was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 30 October 1997, lot 230.
This particular scene depicts Erminia, daughter of the King of Antioch, returning to her countrymen. Tancred conquered Antioch, but treated the defeated Erminia like a Queen. The city was, however, ruined so she was forced to emigrate to Jerusalem. She attempted to re-gain access to Tancred, for whom she had a secret passion, by borrowing Clorinda's armour. On leaving the city, however,she was pursued by the Christian, enemies and fled to Jordan where she discovered the peaceful life of the shepherds.
Designer
The designs for this series are attributed to Michelle I Corneille (1603-1664) and are believed to have been drawn between 1645 and 1650. Corneille based his design on a painting that was completed in circa 1640 by his friend Francois Perrier (d. 1649). His authorship is confirmed by the reference to two designs from the series in the inventory taken after his death. A friend of Eustache Le Sueur and raised by Simon Vouet, he was a co-founder of the Académie Royale de Peinture in 1648. His name still appears shortly before 1673 in the inventory of the Crown as having submitted designs for the Jeux d'enfants and Ancien et Nouveau Testament tapestry series.
Weavings
The set consisted of eight panels (Tancred meets Clorinda, Clorinda frees Olinda and Sophronia, Tancred gives Erminia her Liberty, Erminia returns to her Countrymen, Tancred baptising Clorinda, Erminia succours Tancred and Tancred orders the Tombstone for Clorinda). Upon the death of Rapha de la Planche in 1661, at least 20 pieces from this series, as well as the eight cartoons are mentioned in the inventory taken of his workshop, the Atelier du Faubourg Saint-Germain, which was founded in 1633. The series must therefore also have been woven in the years prior to that with the help of his son Sébastien-Francois, and it appears that there were deliveries of this series as late as 1692, long after the Royal Gobelins Tapestry manufacture was founded by Colbert in 1662.
Related Tapestries
Over 25 surviving tapestries from this series with six differing borders are recorded to date. This previously unrecorded tapestry is identical to that at Chaâteau Châteaudun and indicates thus that almost certainly two sets were woven with identical borders (Lisses et Délices, Chefs-d'Oeuvre de la Tapisserie de Henri IV á Louis XIV, exhibition catalogue, 1996,pp. 246). A tapestry from the same series depicting Tancred meets Clorinda with identically designed borders on a blue ground was sold anonymously in these Rooms 2 May 1997, lot 249, while a panel depicting Clorinda frees Olinda and Sophronia with borders omitting the putti was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 30 October 1997, lot 230.