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拍品專文
The Life of Decius Mus tapestry series depicts Decius Mus and Titus Manlius leading the Roman armies against the Latins at Capua (340 - 338 BC). Both consuls had a dream in which a giant predicted that the leader of the one people and the army of the other would be sacrificed to the underworld. Consequently, one of the two leaders of the Roman army had to be prepared to lay down his life should the army of the adversary suffer defeat. This story was portrayed as an example of patriotism.
Franco Cattaneo first commissioned the set for a group of Genoese noblemen on 9 November 1616 from the ateliers of Jan Raes the elder (d. 1631) and Frans Sweerts. The contract stated that Rubens was to make the patterns, but also to judge the quality of the weaving which would have effected the price of the tapestries (D. Heinz, Europäische Tapisseriekunst des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, Vienna, 1995, pp. 40 - 42 and G. Delmarcel et al., Rubenstextiel, exhibition catalogue, Antwerp, 1997, pp. 39 - 47). This set usually consisted of eight panels, although sets of up to fourteen tapestries are recorded.
This series was the first truly baroque tapestry design and replaced the Raphael designs of the early 16th century such as the Acts of the Apostles, which had previously been very popular and continued to be woven throughout the 17th century, although to a lesser degree. Being Peter Paul Rubens' (d. 1640) first tapestry set, designed in 1615, it was also the first replacement of the old series by a major designer and it guided tapestry design into a new phase. Six oil-paintings that served as basis for the cartoons (there appear to have existed more at one point) were bought in 1696, and still remain in the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein in Vaduz (Liechtenstein, The Princely Collections, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, nos. 210 - 217).
Frans van der Hecke (d. 1675) was a member of a large tapestry weaving dynasty that started with his father, Leo, in 1575 and continued into the mid-18th century. He obtained the weaving privileges in 1629 and was dean of the craft from 1640 to 1641. Several sets of the Decius Mus series are known by him, including one in the Museo Arceologico in Madrid, one at West Dean and one in the episcopal palace, Mondovi.
A set of eight tapestries from this series, woven by Jan II Raes and Jacob II Geubels remains in the Spanish Royal Collection, while another int he same collection is woven by Catherine van den Eynde (d. 1620), widow of Jacob I Geubels (d. 1605) and is illustrated in P. Junquera de Vega and C. Diaz Gallegos, Catalogo de Tapices del Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid, 1986, vol. II, cat. 53, pp. 98 - 103. A version of the Dismissal of the Lictors by Frans van der Hecke was sold anonymously, Christie's, New York, 26 November 1996, lot 238.
Franco Cattaneo first commissioned the set for a group of Genoese noblemen on 9 November 1616 from the ateliers of Jan Raes the elder (d. 1631) and Frans Sweerts. The contract stated that Rubens was to make the patterns, but also to judge the quality of the weaving which would have effected the price of the tapestries (D. Heinz, Europäische Tapisseriekunst des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts, Vienna, 1995, pp. 40 - 42 and G. Delmarcel et al., Rubenstextiel, exhibition catalogue, Antwerp, 1997, pp. 39 - 47). This set usually consisted of eight panels, although sets of up to fourteen tapestries are recorded.
This series was the first truly baroque tapestry design and replaced the Raphael designs of the early 16th century such as the Acts of the Apostles, which had previously been very popular and continued to be woven throughout the 17th century, although to a lesser degree. Being Peter Paul Rubens' (d. 1640) first tapestry set, designed in 1615, it was also the first replacement of the old series by a major designer and it guided tapestry design into a new phase. Six oil-paintings that served as basis for the cartoons (there appear to have existed more at one point) were bought in 1696, and still remain in the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein in Vaduz (Liechtenstein, The Princely Collections, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, nos. 210 - 217).
Frans van der Hecke (d. 1675) was a member of a large tapestry weaving dynasty that started with his father, Leo, in 1575 and continued into the mid-18th century. He obtained the weaving privileges in 1629 and was dean of the craft from 1640 to 1641. Several sets of the Decius Mus series are known by him, including one in the Museo Arceologico in Madrid, one at West Dean and one in the episcopal palace, Mondovi.
A set of eight tapestries from this series, woven by Jan II Raes and Jacob II Geubels remains in the Spanish Royal Collection, while another int he same collection is woven by Catherine van den Eynde (d. 1620), widow of Jacob I Geubels (d. 1605) and is illustrated in P. Junquera de Vega and C. Diaz Gallegos, Catalogo de Tapices del Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid, 1986, vol. II, cat. 53, pp. 98 - 103. A version of the Dismissal of the Lictors by Frans van der Hecke was sold anonymously, Christie's, New York, 26 November 1996, lot 238.