LATE 16TH EARLY 17TH CENTURY, PROBABLY AUDENARDE

This tapestry depicts The Marriage from The Loves of Gombaut et Macée series. This popular series depicting the pastoral life and the joys of youth combined with the ages of man, was originally designed in the first quarter of the 16th Century (the first recorded mention is in an inventory in 1532). They continued, however, to be woven through the 17th Century in various workshops in Flanders and France. Sebastien Leclerc re-published the designs as woodcuts in circa 1596 and several sets of eight were woven during the late 16th and early 17th Century more or less related to these in Bruges, Brussels, Paris and Felletin. This tapestry is, however, most closely related to a design that is attributed to an unidentified 16th Century artist and which previously had been believed to be a study by Laurent Guyot for the 17th Century Paris revival series (C. Adelson, European Tapestry in The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1994, p. 159, fig. 70). The design of this tapestry thus seems to derive independently from the original series rather than copying Leclerc's print.

A tapestry based on the same design and attributed to Antwerp is illustrated in J. Boccara, Ames de Laine et de Soie, Saint-Rémy-en-l'Eau, 1988, p. 222 while a tapestry of identical design that was formerly with French & Co is illustrated in I. De Meûter and M. Vanwelden, Tapisseries d'Audenarde du XVIe au XVIII Sihcle, Tielt, 1999, p. 181.