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Lot Essay
This tapestry forms part of an unidentified series depicting The Story of Abraham. One contemporary set of the same subject and consisting of a total of seven or possibly more panels is attributed to the circle of Michiel Coxcie. The largest surviving groups to this design are those in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston (A. Cavallo, Textiles, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, 1986, cat. 11, pp. 58 - 66) which consists of five panels and omits the subject of this lot and another set of three in the Bayerisches National Museum, Munich (this subject illustrated in G. Delmarcel, Flemish Tapestry, London, 1999, p. 106).
Another 16th Century set depicting The Story of Abraham and consisting of ten panels is attributed to the designer Bernard van Orley. The figures and compositions of that group are, however, more grandiloquent than those of the previous series and of this tapestry. Versions of this latter set are in the state collections in Vienna (L. Baldass, Die Wiener Gobelinssammlung, Vienna, 1920, cats. 21 - 30), in the Spanish Royal Collection (P. Junquera de Vega and C. Herrero Carretero, Catalogo de Tapices del Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid, 1986, vol. I, cat. 29, pp. 206 - 213) and at Hampton Court.
The subject depicts Abraham and his nephew Lot parting after their leaving from Egypt when settling in the new land. Their people were fighting over the grazing grounds of their cattle, so Abraham and Lot decided to part, Lot settling in Sodom and Abraham in Canaan.
Another 16th Century set depicting The Story of Abraham and consisting of ten panels is attributed to the designer Bernard van Orley. The figures and compositions of that group are, however, more grandiloquent than those of the previous series and of this tapestry. Versions of this latter set are in the state collections in Vienna (L. Baldass, Die Wiener Gobelinssammlung, Vienna, 1920, cats. 21 - 30), in the Spanish Royal Collection (P. Junquera de Vega and C. Herrero Carretero, Catalogo de Tapices del Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid, 1986, vol. I, cat. 29, pp. 206 - 213) and at Hampton Court.
The subject depicts Abraham and his nephew Lot parting after their leaving from Egypt when settling in the new land. Their people were fighting over the grazing grounds of their cattle, so Abraham and Lot decided to part, Lot settling in Sodom and Abraham in Canaan.