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Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor
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Throne Baldachin (detail)
From eight separate tapestry components
Designed by Hans Knieper
Woven under the directorship of Hans Knieper, Helsingør (Denmark), 1585–86
Wool, silk, and silver and gilt-metal wrapped thread; backcloth: 9 ft. 1/4 in. x 11 ft. 7 in. (275 x 353 cm); canopy: 13 ft. 2 5/8 in. x 9 ft.1/4 in. (403 x 275 cm); inner and outer central valances for canopy: 1 ft. 2 1/8 in. x 9 ft.1/4 in. (36 x 275 cm); inner and outer side valances for canopy: 1 ft. 2 1/8 in. x 13 ft. 2 5/8 in. (36 x 403 cm)
Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (Indep 2 LRK 28861, 28862), on long-term loan from the Livrustkammaren, Stockholm
See an image of the entire panel.
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Depicting the coats of arms of Frederick II of Denmark (r. 1559–88) and his wife, Sofia, in a richly decorative ground that combines allegorical figures, heraldic emblems, and medallions with scenes from classical history, this canopy was commissioned in the early 1580s as the centerpiece of a sequence of forty tapestries depicting life-size figures of the genealogy of the Danish kings. The design was made by the Antwerp artist, Hans Knieper (fl. 1577–87), and the work was undertaken by a team of Flemish weavers who had established a tapestry workshop for Frederick at Helsingør. Woven in the finest materials, it is a tour de force of northern European mannerist design, and a rare example of the canopies that dramatized the focal point of the grandest sixteenth-century throne rooms. It was among the most important works of art looted in 1658 from the Danish royal collection by the Swedish king, Karl Gustav X.
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