tapestries

A selection of European tapestries

based on the Orlando Furioso, the Aminta, and the Gerusalemme Liberata

 

By Guy Delmarcel, Emeritus Professor of History of Art, University of Louvain, Belgium.

 

Ariosto, Orlando Furioso:

Delft, manufacture Spiering, c. 1620 (Hartkamp-Smit 2004 : 219 etc)

Isabella and Rodomonte, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Orlando overpowered by his Friends, Los Angeles County Museum of Art / Church of Scherpenheuvel, Belgium

 

Delft, manufacture Franz Spiering, early 17th Century, after Karel van Mander (Christie’s London, 1 October 1998):

Fiordiligi, a knight and two peasants.

 

Paris, man. Raphael de la Planche, c.1630-50 (Standen 1985 , I : 275)

The Combat of Manricardo and Zerbino, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

 

Currently in a private collection.

Name given as Orlando liberates Angelica from the Orca.

 

Tasso, Aminta

Paris, Faubourg St Marcel (later Gobelins), before 1623: set of three, château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, formerly Barberini collection (Bertrand 2005: 118, 313):

Sylvie et Nérine partant à la chasse aux loups;

Désespoir de Sylvie;

Sylvie retrouve le corps inanimé d’Aminte et le ramène à la vie

 

Tasso, Gerusalemme Liberata

Paris, Faubourg St Marcel (later Gobelins), c. 1630-35, Rinaldo and Armida, design by Simon Vouet

Set of four, château du Haras du Pin (detail analysis in exh. Vouet 1990: 512 etc; also exh. New York 2007 :129):

Armide, aidée d’une suivante enlève Renaud endormi ;

Les chevaliers Charles et Ubalde à la fontaine du rire;

Charles et Ubalde découvrent Renaud dans les bras d’Armide;

Renaud se regardant dans le bouclier de diamant

 

Paris, manufactory of Raphael de la Planche, ca.1633-1637, design by Simon Vouet

Flint Institute of Art, Flint, Michigan

Carlo and Ubaldo at the Fountain of Laughter,

Carlo and Ubaldo Spy on the Lovers,

Rinaldo Views His Image in the Diamond Shield,

Rinaldo and His Companions Leave the Enchanted Isle,

Armida, the Sorceress, Calls Upon the Powers of Magic to Avenge Her Loss,

Armida Driving Her Chariot,

Armida Flees the Field of Battle,

Rinaldo Prevents the Suicide of the Despairing Armida

 

Paris, manufacture de La Planche, after 1650, design by Michel Corneille (exh. Chambord 1996 ; exh. New York 2007:131):

Armide s’apprêtant à frapper Renaud

 

Scenes from Tancredi and Clorinda, château de Châteaudun et alia

Tancrède rencontre Clorinde;

Clorinde délivre Olinde et Sophronie;

Herminie, relève Tancrède;

Tancrède rend à Herminie la liberté;

Herminie chez les paysans

 

Paris, Raphael de la Planche (Göbel 1928, then in private collections):

Armida deplores Rinaldo’s departure.

Tancredi baptizes Clorinda.

 

Paris, Raphael de la Planche, mid 17th century, design by Simon Vouet, now at Le Louvre:

Armide s’apprêtant à frapper Renaud

 

Antwerp, various manufactures, c. 1675 (Junquera 1986 : 289,294-296 / De Meûter 2016: 226-230)

Armida brings Rinaldo to a magic place, Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid;

Armida and Rinaldo walking in the magic garden, ibidem

 

Antwerp, late 17th century:

Rinaldo looks at his reflection in the magic shield.

 

Rome, manufacture San Michele , 1735 and later (Standen 1982; Standen 1985, II: 776 etc.)

Aladin hears of the crusaders’ approach;

Sophronia’s defiance;

The Crusaders reach Gerusalem;

Erminia and the Shepherd

 

Brussels, first half 18th century, Frans II Van der Hecke:

Armida

 

Additional tapestries based on the Gerusalemme Liberata:

Two tapestries that were at the former galerie Blondeel, Paris, in 2001:

Herminie chez les paysans, Paris, 1650-75

Renaud et Armide dans les jardins enchantés, Paris , 1635-50

 

Bibliography

Göbel, Heinrich, Die Wandteppiche und ihre Manufakturen in Frankreich, Italien, Spanien und Portugal, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1928.

Standen ,Edith, ‘Tapestries for a Cardinal-Nephew. A Roman Set Illustrating Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata’, Metropolitan Museum Journal, 16, 1982, p. 147-164

Standen, Edith A, European Post-Medieval Tapestries and Related Hangings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2 vols., New York, 1985

Junquera de Vega, Paulina & Carmen Diaz Gallegos, Catalogo de tapices del Patrimonio Nacional. Volumen II . Siglo XVII, Madrid,1986.

Hartkamp – Jonxis , Ebeltje, & Hillie Smit , European Tapestries in the Rijksmuseum (Catalogues of the Decorative Arts in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Volume 5 ), Amsterdam, Waanders Publishers & Rijksmuseum, 2004, 463 pp.

Bertrand, Pascal-François, Les tapisseries des Barberini et la décoration d’intérieur dans la Rome baroque, Studies in Western Tapestry, vol. 2, G. Delmarcel and K. Brosens (eds), Turnhout (Brepols) 2005. (ISBN 2-503-51668-8; 343p., 153 b/w ill., hardback). Includes commentary and illustrations of Vouet’s Renaud et Armide (Flint Institute of Art, Flint, Michigan) and a tapestry series illustrating Tasso’s pastoral novel Aminta (Vaux le Vicomte).

De Meûter, Ingrid , Vlaamse wandtapijten. Productie en handel. De Oudenaardse familie Van Verren (1680-1740) , Gent, Provinciebestuur Oost-Vlaanderen, 2016, 493 p. with 287 ill.

 

Exhibition catalogues:

Paris 1990

Lavalle, Denis , ‘Tapisseries’, in Vouet, ed.by Jacques Thuillier, (exhibition cat.) Paris, Grand Palais, 1990-1991, pp. 487-

Chambord 1996

Lisses et délices. Chefs- d’oeuvre de la tapisserie de Henri IV à Louis XIV, (exh. cat. ) Caisse Nationale des Monuments historiques , Château de Chambord, 7 septembre l996- 5 janvier l997

New York 2001

Campbell, Thomas P. & Elizabeth A.H. Cleland (ed.), Tapestry in the Baroque. Threads of Splendor, (exh. cat.) New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art & Yale UP, 2007, 563 pp