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Lot Essay
This magnificent tapestry is related to several series woven during the first decades of the 16th century in Flanders, during the last flowering of the lyrical, courtly style of the late Gothic period, while its more naturalistic sense of space looks forward into the Italian Renaissance. This new style was introduced to the north through the The Acts of the Apostles series by Raphael, which were being woven in Brussels in 1516. Most tapestry series created in these first years of the Northern Renaissance period initially remained firmly in the Gothic tradition, while introducing some tentative innovative spatial ideas.
DESIGNER
These narrative tapestries reflect the painterly manner of Jan van Roome, who was one of the most important tapestry designers of the period, and who was active as early as 1498 and received numerous important commissions from Margaret of Austria between 1509 and 1521. Series such as The Story of Herkenbald (Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels) and The Story of David and Bathsheba (Musée de la Renaissance, Ecouen) are documented works by him or attributed to him. The number of tapestries that date between 1500 and 1520 and that are frequently attributed to him are, however, simply too many to have been designed by one person. It is most probable that the majority of figures and compositions were taken from prints or paintings that were also re-used for other tapestries. An attribution of this tapestry to him can therefore not be made, although it is certainly executed in the manner of van Roome (A. Cavallo, Medieval Tapestries in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1993, pp. 546 - 547 and N. Forti Grazzini, et al., Mirabilia Ducalia, Vigevano, 1992, pp. 60 - 65). Another set of tapestries that is attributed quite closely to van Roome and that relates closely to this tapestry is a set depicting The Story of Mestra in the Hermitage Museum (N.Y. Biryukova, The Hermitage Leningrad, Gothic and Renaissance Tapestries, London, 1965, figs. 49 - 60).
DATE AND PLACE OF WEAVING
Closely related to the offered tapestry in terms of costume and treatment of space is also The Prodigal Son Sets Out in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (C. Adelson, European Tapestry in The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1994, cat. 4, pp. 56 - 69) which shows the same early influences of Italian Renaissance ideas by giving the individual figures volume and space. It is believed that these ideas reached designers of the north when Raphael's cartoons of The Acts of the Apostles was sent from Rome to Brussels between 1516 and 1517. This type of composition continued to be used until about 1530 which would place the offered tapestries in that period.
Traditionally the weaving of this group of tapestries has been attributed to Brussels because of the records that indicate that The Story of Herkenbald, to which all these tapestries are compared, was woven by Léon de Smet in Brussels in 1513. More recent studies have, however, proven such attributions difficult because numerous weaving centres of the region produced very similar works, although the majority of these tapestries are still believed to have been manufactured in Brussels.
DESIGNER
These narrative tapestries reflect the painterly manner of Jan van Roome, who was one of the most important tapestry designers of the period, and who was active as early as 1498 and received numerous important commissions from Margaret of Austria between 1509 and 1521. Series such as The Story of Herkenbald (Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels) and The Story of David and Bathsheba (Musée de la Renaissance, Ecouen) are documented works by him or attributed to him. The number of tapestries that date between 1500 and 1520 and that are frequently attributed to him are, however, simply too many to have been designed by one person. It is most probable that the majority of figures and compositions were taken from prints or paintings that were also re-used for other tapestries. An attribution of this tapestry to him can therefore not be made, although it is certainly executed in the manner of van Roome (A. Cavallo, Medieval Tapestries in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1993, pp. 546 - 547 and N. Forti Grazzini, et al., Mirabilia Ducalia, Vigevano, 1992, pp. 60 - 65). Another set of tapestries that is attributed quite closely to van Roome and that relates closely to this tapestry is a set depicting The Story of Mestra in the Hermitage Museum (N.Y. Biryukova, The Hermitage Leningrad, Gothic and Renaissance Tapestries, London, 1965, figs. 49 - 60).
DATE AND PLACE OF WEAVING
Closely related to the offered tapestry in terms of costume and treatment of space is also The Prodigal Son Sets Out in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (C. Adelson, European Tapestry in The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1994, cat. 4, pp. 56 - 69) which shows the same early influences of Italian Renaissance ideas by giving the individual figures volume and space. It is believed that these ideas reached designers of the north when Raphael's cartoons of The Acts of the Apostles was sent from Rome to Brussels between 1516 and 1517. This type of composition continued to be used until about 1530 which would place the offered tapestries in that period.
Traditionally the weaving of this group of tapestries has been attributed to Brussels because of the records that indicate that The Story of Herkenbald, to which all these tapestries are compared, was woven by Léon de Smet in Brussels in 1513. More recent studies have, however, proven such attributions difficult because numerous weaving centres of the region produced very similar works, although the majority of these tapestries are still believed to have been manufactured in Brussels.