Noble Retinue in a Landscape

Woven under the direction of Joost van Herzeele Flemish

before 1589

Not on view

This tapestry’s design belongs to the style of the “small-figure genre”, popularized towards the end of the century in part to compensate for vagaries of weaving execution threatened by the migration of weavers during the civil and religious unrest in the Habsburg Netherlands during these years. Stylistically, Noble Retinue in a Landscape appears to be a later work and may prove to be a useful example of van Herzeele’s work after he had relocated to Antwerp for the last eight years of his life. Bearing in mind the Italian patrons of the Victorian and Albert Museum’s van Herzeele-woven five-part Landscape with the Arms of the Contarini family of Venice (127-130, a – 1869), as well as the Genovese patron, Andrea Doria, of the Doria Grotesques, and the inclusion of the arms of Cardinal Montalto (subsequently Pope Sixtus V) on the Story of the Sabines and the Romans, it is possible that, upon further investigation, Noble Retinue in a Landscape, with its Italianate border, might likewise have been an Italian commission.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Title: Noble Retinue in a Landscape
Maker: Woven under the direction of Joost van Herzeele (Flemish, active before 1580–89)
Date: before 1589
Culture: Flemish, Antwerp or Brussels
Medium: Wool (warp); wool & silk (wefts)
Dimensions: 83 7/16 in. × 9 ft. 10 7/8 in. (212 × 302 cm)
Classification: Textiles-Tapestries
Credit Line: Gift of Daniel and Cynthia Buttafuoco, 2014
Object Number: 2014.709
Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

More Artwork

By Joost van Herzeele

In the same medium

From the same time and place

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Minerva from the "Doria Grotesques", Perino del Vaga (Pietro Buonaccorsi) Italian, Wool, silk (17-19 warps per inch, 7-8 per cm.), Netherlandish, Brussels — Minerva from the "Doria Grotesques"
Perino del Vaga (Pietro Buonaccorsi)
Joost van Herzeele
Designed 1545, woven ca. 1550

The Romans with their Sabine Wives from the Story of the Romans and the Sabines, Nicolas van Orley, Wool, silk (19-21 warps per inch, 7-8 per cm.), Flemish, Brussels or Antwerp — The Romans with their Sabine Wives from the Story of the Romans and the Sabines
Multiple artists/makers
1570–85

The Sabine Women Stopping the Battle between the Romans and the Sabines from the Story of the Romans and the Sabines, Nicolas van Orley, Wool, silk (19-21 warps per inch, 7-9 per cm.), Flemish, Brussels or Antwerp — The Sabine Women Stopping the Battle between the Romans and the Sabines from the Story of the Romans and the Sabines
Multiple artists/makers
1570–85

The Triumph of Fame, Wool, silk (6-7 warp threads per cm.), Netherlandish, probably Brussels — The Triumph of Fame
Netherlandish, probably Brussels
ca. 1502–4

Aglauros’s Vision of the Bridal Chamber of Herse, from the Story of Mercury and Herse, Giovanni Battista Lodi da Cremona Italian, Wool, silk and precious metal-wrapped threads (20-22 warps per inch, 8-9 warps per cm.), Netherlandish, Brussels — Aglauros’s Vision of the Bridal Chamber of Herse, from the Story of Mercury and Herse
Multiple artists/makers
designed ca. 1540, woven ca. 1570

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