SECOND HALF 17TH CENTURY

Details

A FLEMISH HISTORICAL TAPESTRY
Second half 17th Century
Woven in wools and silks, depicting the Emperor Constantine before the battle at Milvian Bridge on the Tiber, to his left a boy holding the rains of his horse, to his right two officers and their horses, in a forest with various buildings, the floral border with acanthus corner-clasps, with a label to the reverse 'KONSERVERAD 1990 LIVRUSTKAMMAREN (LSH)', reweaving and patching, losses, particularly to the brown wools, the central field and borders possibly associated, the inner and outer strips later, areas of reweaving including the brown colours to the borders
9ft. 6in. (290 cm.) high; 11ft. 4 in. (346 cm.) wide

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Lot Essay

Constantine the Great (280-337 AD) defeated the Emperor Maxentius at this battle in 312. Eusebius records in his Life of Constantine that on the eve of the battle in a dream, Constantine saw a cross in the sky and heard a voice crying 'in hoc signio vinces' (in this sign, conquer). This tapestry follows an alternative version that records that Constantine saw the vision on the battlefield. The Emperor granted an edict of toleration to the Christians and was baptised later. He adopted the Chi-Rho monogram on his coins and substituted it for the Roman Eagle on the standards of his legions.

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