VARIOUS PROPERTIES
A BRUSSELS RENAISSANCE HISTORICAL TAPESTRY

SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY

Details
A BRUSSELS RENAISSANCE HISTORICAL TAPESTRY
SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY
Centrally depicting Hector's farewell to his wife Andromache and son Astyanax, the borders woven with acanthus and scallop shells, with fierce animals masks at the angles and landscape vignettes at the sides, the guard borders turned under with Brussels townmark on the lower right selvedge
11ft. 1in. x 7ft. 7in.

Lot Essay

This tapestry is from one of the "Nine Heroes" series which depicted three heroes of Classical Antiquity, three from the Old Testatment and three Christian heroes. The present example depicts Hector, commander of the Trojan armies, on the eve of the battle saying farewell to his wife and child. Two examples from this series depicting Godfrey of Bouillon and Julius Caesar are illustrated in H. Gobel, Tapestries of the Lowlands, New York, 1924, fig. 83-84.