Lot Essay
Pierre de Godde, listed as working in Brussels between 1613-1629
The present lot is one from a series of eight tapestries illustrating scenes from the life of the shepherd Gombaut and the shepherdess Macée. The present scene depicts the couple at age twenty at a village dance. This popular series depicting the pastoral life and the joys of youth was woven from the first part of the 16th century through the 17th century in various workshops in France and Flanders. The designs for the 17th century examples are probably based upon a series of wood engravings by Jean LeClerc which date around to 1596. No complete set of tapestries is known although there is one set of seven subjects with part of the eighth in the Musée de Saint-Lô (see E. Standen, European Post-Medieval Tapestries and Related Hangings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985, vol. I, p. 174). Other scenes from this series include the hunt for butterflies, the ball game, the meal, the wedding and 'death' chasing Gambaut and Macée.
The present lot is one from a series of eight tapestries illustrating scenes from the life of the shepherd Gombaut and the shepherdess Macée. The present scene depicts the couple at age twenty at a village dance. This popular series depicting the pastoral life and the joys of youth was woven from the first part of the 16th century through the 17th century in various workshops in France and Flanders. The designs for the 17th century examples are probably based upon a series of wood engravings by Jean LeClerc which date around to 1596. No complete set of tapestries is known although there is one set of seven subjects with part of the eighth in the Musée de Saint-Lô (see E. Standen, European Post-Medieval Tapestries and Related Hangings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985, vol. I, p. 174). Other scenes from this series include the hunt for butterflies, the ball game, the meal, the wedding and 'death' chasing Gambaut and Macée.