This tapestry is one from a nine-piece series known as the Hunters’ Chase. Curiously-enough, given its secular subject-matter, the original edition was commissioned by the Dutch Church in London, in 1645. Francis Clein designed four of the pieces in the series from scratch; the other five, including News of the Stag, were based on existing tapestry designs by the great 16th-century artist Bernard van Orley for his influential, Brussels-woven Hunts of Maximilian. Hunters’ Chase proved incredibly popular for Mortlake, resulting in much-needed commissions for the floundering manufactory: at least 8 different re-editions were woven during the following decades, including that of which this News of the Stag was part.

For more info see Edith Standen, European post-medieval tapestries and related hangings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985 (vol.2, cat.125) and Wendy Hefford in Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor, MMA exh.cat. 2007 (p.182).