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Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor
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Chariot of the Sun
From a thirteen-piece set, including three overdoors and three portieres, of the Seasons and Hours
Design and cartoons of the main scene and borders by Lorenzo Lippi, before April 27, 1643
Woven on a low-warp loom in the Medici manufactory under the direction of Pietro Févère, Florence, before January 11, 1645
Wool and filoselle; 19 ft. 4 1/4 in. x 16 ft. 4 7/8 in. (590 x 500 cm)
Deposito Arazzi della Soprintendenza Speciale per il Polo Museale Fiorentino, Palazzo Pitti, Florence (Arazzi no. 146)
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Depicting Apollo in his chariot, within an elaborate faux-sculptural border, this tapestry is part of a series illustrating the Seasons and Hours that was woven for the audience chamber of Grand Prince Cosimo in the Palazzo Pitti. It largely duplicated a set that had been made between 1640–44 for the Sala di Giove, the audience chamber in the winter quarters of Cosimo's father, Grand Duke Ferdinando II de' Medici, of which the ceiling was then being frescoed by Pietro da Cortona. While the first weaving was made with wool, silk, and gold thread, the second set was made only in wool and filoselle (a lesser grade of silk). The design of the Seasons panels was undertaken by Jacopo Vignali (1592–1664); those of the Hours by Lorenzo Lippi (1606–64). In the case of the first version of the Chariot of the Sun, Lippi based the figure of Apollo on an earlier drawing by Francesco Salviati (1510–63). For the second weaving, he reinterpreted the figure of Apollo more freely.
The borders of the Seasons and Hours, the same in both sets, resemble an elaborate stucco and gold frame decorated with clusters of putti, drapes, cartouches, balls (alluding to the Medici coat of arms), and oak branches (the heraldic device of Vittoria della Rovere, grand ducal consort of Ferdinando II and mother of Grand Prince Cosimo). This simulated stucco work may have been conceived to harmonize with the stuccos of the Sala di Giove (Jupiter) in the Palazzo Pitti, the throne room for which the first weaving was made. The gold ring in the cartouche in the top border is decorated with signs of the zodiac, symbolizing the journey of the sun god in his chariot over the course of the year.
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