Page 266 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

Fig. 4 Fig. 5

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a woman who is sniffing a bouquet. On the other side, a seated first name and so this could refer to the former or the latter – and Reproductions were made by various engravers, and these effects are disregarded, the picture space has less height (the hanging
woman is shown with two children; one has an arm around her the son was still active in the early seventeenth century. were the source material for high-quality tapestries in Brussels and garden disappears, walls are lower, the chariot is smaller), the
shoulder, presenting flowers for her to smell, the other carries a The wide, lavish border follows a style common since the work of a less sophisticated quality in the various workshops of middle ground is lost, the figures are closer together, the hero is less
basket containing a variety of flowers. mid-sixteenth century: it is divided up by architectural forms which Aubusson. The number of tapestries produced in this region was prominent, some of the musicians have been jettisoned, there are
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The authors of the models used – almost certainly different create niches filled alternately with vases of flowers (enlivened by considerable and the quality varied because at least twenty workshops no flowers on the ground, the chariot’s decorations are modified
ones for the foreground and the background – have not been playful putti) and allegorical figures. There are eight female figures were involved (continuing well into the eighteenth century), to and the slaves are modestly dressed: Le Brun (who doubtless did
identified to date. in all, at the four corners and in the centre of each side: three display judge by the names cited in archives and those tapestries bearing not see the Aubusson tapestries) would have been surprised by the
This set was woven several times, as noted by Ingrid de texts (representing Faith?); one holds a pair of scales (representing a mark. The tapestry in Lausanne, with a border (connected to change of tone. But buyers were avid for these subjects, which had
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Meûter, historian of the tapestries of (Audenarde/Oudenaarde). Justice); another, with wings, holds a bird (representing Air, or Hope?); these battles), may date from the late seventeenth century. become a popular favourite.
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An identical tapestry is held by the Plantin-Moretus Museum in another holds two globes; and the last one points skywards. Gods and The subject, also called the The Triumph of Alexander, is
Antwerp although its landscape is different. This was typical of other figures, presented as atlantes, frame these small scenes: Hercules described by Quintus Curtius: ‘A large number of the Babylonians 1. Marthe Crick-Kuntziger, ‘Deux tapisseries bruxelloises d’après les cartons de Louis van
the (Audenarde/Oudenaarde) workshops, which had different (symbolising strength), Venus, Ceres, Neptune, and a woman holding had taken up a position on the walls, eager to have a view of their new Schoor’, in Bulletin des Musées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire 26, 1954, pp. 98-106. She cites A.
Wauters, Les tapisseries bruxelloises, Culture et civilisation, Bruxelles, 1878, p. 270.
cartoons for the figures and the landscape backgrounds, enabling a flaming heart (conventionally symbolising Charity). It is difficult to king, but most went out to meet him, including the man in charge of the 2. Koenraad Brosens, A contextual study of Brussels tapestry, 1670-1770: the dye works and

tapestry workshop of Urbanus Leyniers (1674-1747), Koninklijke vlaamse academie van
them to vary the compositions. The groups of figures featured in a find a link with the main scene and a coherent scheme behind this citadel and royal treasury, Bagophanes. Not to be outdone by Mazaeus België voor wetenschappen en kunsten, Brussels, 2004, p. 92.
3. See for example Marie José de Mendonca, Inventario de tapeçarias existentès em museus e
tapestry could also vary. A tapestry in a private Belgian collection, rich iconography; it is possible that these were simply pattern figures in paying his respects to Alexander, Bagophanes had carpeted the whole 4. One tapestry of the set held in Brussels bears his mark. See Marthe Crick-Kuntziger,
Palacios nacionais, Istituto portuguès do patrimonio cultural, Lisbon, 1983, p.45.
for example, has only the left-hand group, while the group on the re-used without an overall design. road with flowers and garlands and set up at intervals on both sides silver art. cit. and Koenraad Brosens, op. cit., p. 92. But other workshops may have used the models.
5. Edith Standen, European Post-Medieval Tapestries and Related Hangings in The Metropolitan
right is replaced by a magnificent fountain. Finally, some sets of the altars heaped not just with frankincense but with all manner of perfumes. Museum of Art, MoMA, New York, 1985, vol. I, pp. 220-223.
Conversations included tapestries from another group. THE HISTORY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT/ALEXANDER Following him were his gifts […]. Next came the […] Chaldaeans, then the 6. Marthe Crick-Kuntziger, op.cit., p. 101 draws attention to the Spring in Munich,

published by Göbel.
Here, the border imitates the frame of a painting, as is common ENTERS BABYLON (fig. 5) Babylonians, represented not only by priests but also by musicians equipped 7. Ernst von Birk, ‘Inventar der im Besitz des Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses befindlichen
Niederländer Tapeten und Gobelins’, in Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des
in all workshops in the eighteenth century, while the tapestry itself Alexander, King of Macedonia (356-323 bc), conquered with their national instrument. […] Surrounded by an armed guard, the Allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses 2, 1884, pp. 167-220, p. 209, series CIV.
8. Henrich Göbel, Tapestries of the Lowlands, Hacker Art Books, New York, 1974, fig. 309.
gets ever closer to painting with its more nuanced use of colour. Greece, then Syria, Egypt, Persia and India. Comparisons between king instructed the townspeople to follow at the rear of his infantry; then he 9. Edith Standen, op. cit., pp. 222-223.
10. And not in Lille as some publications suggest.
Here, as in all tapestry manufactories, the ‘suites’ (series of sets Louis xiv and this outstanding hero were made from a very early entered the city on a chariot and went into the palace.’ 11. Ingrid de Meûter, Tapisseries d’Audenarde du XVI e au XVIII e siècle, Lannoo, Tielt, 1999,
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p. 240-244.
of the same design) can generally be distinguished by their borders. stage. Canvases painted for the king by Charles Lebrun, starting in It is clear that the artist has elaborated considerably upon the 12. See identical mark in Guy Delmarcel, Flemish Tapestry, 15th to 18th century, ed. Lannoo,
Tielt, 1999, p. 369.
1661 (and including Alexander the Great Enters Babylon in 1665) source. After all, great men of the time (including Scipio, Titus, etc.) 13. The order in which the canvases were produced, and in which they are listed in the Fenaille
OPEN-AIR CONCERT (fig. 4) were soon copied in monumental cartoon format to be woven in were routinely given Roman-style triumphs. Le Brun therefore inventory, does not correspond to the chronological order of events.
14. Maurice Fenaille, Etat général des tapisseries de la manufacture des Gobelins…,
In the foreground the scene shows a warrior and his courtly the Gobelins workshops in Paris from 1664 to 1665 onwards, on creates this magnificent entry with Alexander crowned in laurels and vol. 1662-1699, Imprimerie nationale, Paris, 1903, pp. 166-85.
15. Including those by Gérard Edelink, Gérard Audran (between 1672 and 1678), Jean Audran,
companions eating a meal in the open air, accompanied by music. both high- and low-warp looms. mounted on a chariot drawn by two elephants, followed by horse Sébastien Leclerc and finally Bernard Picart. See Nicole de Reyniès, ‘Catalogue. Tenture
de l’Histoire d’Alexandre (à Bellac)’, in L’État et l’art (1800-1914). L’Enrichissement des
Food and drink are set out on a cloth laid on the ground, near a The subjects are as follows, in order of the events: riders bearing ensigns and weapons (lances). The central horseman, bâtiments civils et militaires en Limousin, Culture et patrimoine en Limousin. Limoges, 1999,
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pp. 34-36.
stream. Three musicians are respectively playing the harp, the viola - Battle of the Granicus or Crossing of the Granicus Bagophanes, is followed by various musicians. We can see flowers on 16. Nicole de Reyniès, ‘Fastes d’intérieurs, Tapisseries, broderies, garnitures de meubles
da gamba and the lute. In the distance is an equestrian parade at the - Battle of Gaugamela the ground and incense vases. The gifts are replaced by a large metal du château de Grignan’, in: Collectif, Catalogue des textiles du château de Grignan, Paris, ed.
Somogy, to be published in 2008.
foot of a platform on which a king appears. Is this a scene showing - The Triumph of Alexander (in Babylon) container borne by bare-chested slaves, illustrating the magnificent 17. Quintus Curtius Rufus, The history of Alexander, translated by John Yardley, Penguin,
Harmondsworth, 1984, pp. 119-121.
princely pastimes or an unidentified episode from a novel? It is - The battle against Porus (where the wounded Porus is brought booty captured by Alexander from the Persians. A group of women 18. This group calls to mind the silverwork produced at the Gobelins manufactory, which
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can be seen on a tapestry showing the history of the king.
difficult to say for sure in the absence of other pieces from the same before Alexander) and children to one side represents the Babylonians witnessing the 19. Doubtless in response to a customer’s request, the Lausanne tapestry has been expanded
set (tapestries were rarely conceived at the start as isolated works). In Paris the battle scenes, which were too wide, were divided scene – presumably the men have been killed or taken captive. on the right-hand side, with an additional figure which does not appear in the Lebrun model.
The side border bears the woven mark of Martin Reymbouts, into three scenes and the sets therefore consisted of eleven or Every workshop in Aubusson reworked Lebrun’s compositions.
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a well-known Brussels workshop. Both father and son had the same twelve tapestries. The scale is smaller and the working less sophisticated, the lighting
Open-air Concert The History of Alexander the Great/Alexander Enters Babylon.
Brussels, workshop of Martin Reymbouts. Second half of the sixteenth century. Aubusson. Late seventeenth century. Modelled on engravings from the work of Charles
343 x 257 cm, 3.5 warp threads per cm, wool and silk. Lebrun. 379 x 570 cm, 3.5 warp threads per cm. Original border.
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