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Lot Essay
The three women are representations of the three Theological Virtues Faith, Charity and Hope.
The style of decoration of this cushion front is typical of a group of tapestry panels generally attributed to southern Denmark or northern Germany. A number of small workshops were established in the late 1570s to 1580s in this area by Flemish immigrants who fled their native lands because of religious persecutions during the campaigns of the Duke of Alba in Flanders.
Two tapestries with very closely related main subject, but without the small boy standing to the left of the central figure and without the two angels holding the wreath, are in The Minneapolis Institute of Arts (C. Adelson, European Tapestry in The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1994, pp. 368-376, cat. 22), while another also lacking the boy to the left of the central figure but including the angels, from the property of Mrs. A.H. Soames [+], was sold in these Rooms, 28 May 1964, lot 61.
The style of decoration of this cushion front is typical of a group of tapestry panels generally attributed to southern Denmark or northern Germany. A number of small workshops were established in the late 1570s to 1580s in this area by Flemish immigrants who fled their native lands because of religious persecutions during the campaigns of the Duke of Alba in Flanders.
Two tapestries with very closely related main subject, but without the small boy standing to the left of the central figure and without the two angels holding the wreath, are in The Minneapolis Institute of Arts (C. Adelson, European Tapestry in The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1994, pp. 368-376, cat. 22), while another also lacking the boy to the left of the central figure but including the angels, from the property of Mrs. A.H. Soames [+], was sold in these Rooms, 28 May 1964, lot 61.