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Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor
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Night (detail)
From an eighteen-piece set of the Months, Seasons, and Times of the Day
Design by Pieter de Witte, called Peter Candid, ca. 1612
Woven in the workshop of Hans van der Biest, Munich, 1614
Wool, silk, and silver and gilt-metal wrapped thread; 13 ft. 2 1/4 in. x 9 ft. 5/8 in. (402 x 276 cm)
Weaver's mark at left end of bottom selvage; Munich manufactory mark at center of bottom selvage
Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich (T3902)
See an image of the entire panel.
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This was one of the last tapestries made in the short-lived manufactory that Duke Maximilian of Bavaria (r. 1597–1651) established in Munich between 1604 and 1616 under direction of the Enghien master-weaver Hans van der Biest (fl. 1604–before 1618). This modest-sized workshop benefited from cartoons of extremely high quality provided by the court artist Pieter de Witte (ca. 1548–1628), known as Pieter Candid, who had spent his early life in Florence before moving to Munich. Rejecting the small figures and mannerist style of contemporary Flemish tapestry design, Candid looked back to the monumental figures and richly composed settings of mid-sixteenth century Brussels designers, fusing them with dramatic light effects and a spirit of theatrical illusionism that predate the initiatives taken in Flemish tapestry design by Peter Paul Rubens and Jacob Jordaens in the following years. With their vibrant colors, dynamic figures and engaging details, the tapestries woven in Munich from Candid's designs were among the finest and most innovative products of the early seventeenth-century European tapestry industry.
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