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Lot Essay
SIR CHARLES BENNET LAWES-WITTWRONGE, Bt.
Sir Charles Bennet Lawes-Wittewronge, Bt. (1843 - 1911), was a sculptor educated at Eton and Cambridge, who lived at Rothamsted and had an extensive collection of medieval furniture.
CLARENCE MACKAY
Mackay (1874 - 1938) developed the richest silver mines in Nevada and was the President and Chairman of the Board of the Commercial Cable Company and the Postal Telegraph-Cable Company, later ITT. 'Fabulously rich', he had an extensive collection of tapestries and medieval art at Harbor Hill, Roslyn, New York, where Edward VII, later Duke of Windsor, visited him in 1924.
THE DESIGN OF THE TAPESTRY
This tapestry is related to several series woven during the first decades of the 16th century in Flanders, just as the new design ideology coming from Italy with The Acts of the Apostles series by Raphael were being woven in Brussels. Most tapestry series created in these first years of the Northern Renaissance period initially remained firmly in the Gothic tradition, while introducing some tentative innovative spatial ideas.
In the past this tapestry was entitled The Prodigal Son Receiving his Patrimony but more recently Adolphus Cavallo has reverted to simply calling the scene Queen and man embracing in Courtyard. It does relate to the Prodigal Son series woven in the early 16th century, but the known depictions of The Prodigal Son Setting Out at Minneapolis and Vigevano are different from the offered design (C. Adelson, European Tapestry in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1994, cat. 4, pp. 56 - 69). It is possible that this panel forms part of a set that is not recorded and may be based on a medieval expansion of the original parable of the Prodigal Son. The narrative depiction of this tapestry is related to medieval stage design, in which several episodes from the story are visible simultaneously.
The Prodigal Son as a theme in tapestries was extremely successful as no less than sixty-one pieces in the inventory of Henry VIII of 1547 of this title attest. The theme first appeared in the 15th century and was woven in all weaving centres through the mid-16th century.
DESIGNER
These narrative tapestries reflect the painterly manner of Jan van Roome, who was one of the most important tapestry designers of the period, and who was active as early as 1498 and received numerous important commissions from Margaret of Austria between 1509 and 1521. Series such as The Story of Herkenbald (Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels) and The Story of David and Bathsheba (Musée de la Renaissance, Ecouen) are documented works by him or attributed to him. The number of tapestries that date between 1500 and 1520 and that are frequently attributed to him are, however, simply too many to have been designed by one person. It is most probable that the majority of figures and compositions were taken from prints or paintings that were also re-used for other tapestries. An attribution of this tapestry to him can therefore not be made, although it is certainly executed in the manner of van Roome (A. Cavallo, Medieval Tapestries in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1993, pp. 546 - 547 and N. Forti Grazzini, et al., Mirabilia Ducalia, Vigevano, 1992, pp. 60 - 65). Another set of tapestries that is attributed quite closely to van Roome and that relates closely to this tapestry is a set depicting The Story of Mestra in the Hermitage Museum (N.Y. Biryukova, The Hermitage Leningrad, Gothic and Renaissance Tapestries, London, 1965, figs. 49 - 60).
PLACE OF WEAVING
Traditionally the weaving of this group of tapestries has been attributed to Brussels because of the records that indicate that The Story of Herkenbald, to which all these tapestries are compared, was woven by Léon de Smet in Brussels in 1513. More recent studies have, however, proven such attributions difficult because numerous weaving centres of the region produced very similar works, although the majority of these tapestries are still believed to have been manufactured in Brussels.
A further tapestry of identical design but cropped along all sides was sold anonymously, Christie'’s, London, 24 November 1972, lot 2.2
(C. Adelson, European Tapestry in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1994, cat .4, pp. 56 - 69).
Sir Charles Bennet Lawes-Wittewronge, Bt. (1843 - 1911), was a sculptor educated at Eton and Cambridge, who lived at Rothamsted and had an extensive collection of medieval furniture.
CLARENCE MACKAY
Mackay (1874 - 1938) developed the richest silver mines in Nevada and was the President and Chairman of the Board of the Commercial Cable Company and the Postal Telegraph-Cable Company, later ITT. 'Fabulously rich', he had an extensive collection of tapestries and medieval art at Harbor Hill, Roslyn, New York, where Edward VII, later Duke of Windsor, visited him in 1924.
THE DESIGN OF THE TAPESTRY
This tapestry is related to several series woven during the first decades of the 16th century in Flanders, just as the new design ideology coming from Italy with The Acts of the Apostles series by Raphael were being woven in Brussels. Most tapestry series created in these first years of the Northern Renaissance period initially remained firmly in the Gothic tradition, while introducing some tentative innovative spatial ideas.
In the past this tapestry was entitled The Prodigal Son Receiving his Patrimony but more recently Adolphus Cavallo has reverted to simply calling the scene Queen and man embracing in Courtyard. It does relate to the Prodigal Son series woven in the early 16th century, but the known depictions of The Prodigal Son Setting Out at Minneapolis and Vigevano are different from the offered design (C. Adelson, European Tapestry in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1994, cat. 4, pp. 56 - 69). It is possible that this panel forms part of a set that is not recorded and may be based on a medieval expansion of the original parable of the Prodigal Son. The narrative depiction of this tapestry is related to medieval stage design, in which several episodes from the story are visible simultaneously.
The Prodigal Son as a theme in tapestries was extremely successful as no less than sixty-one pieces in the inventory of Henry VIII of 1547 of this title attest. The theme first appeared in the 15th century and was woven in all weaving centres through the mid-16th century.
DESIGNER
These narrative tapestries reflect the painterly manner of Jan van Roome, who was one of the most important tapestry designers of the period, and who was active as early as 1498 and received numerous important commissions from Margaret of Austria between 1509 and 1521. Series such as The Story of Herkenbald (Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels) and The Story of David and Bathsheba (Musée de la Renaissance, Ecouen) are documented works by him or attributed to him. The number of tapestries that date between 1500 and 1520 and that are frequently attributed to him are, however, simply too many to have been designed by one person. It is most probable that the majority of figures and compositions were taken from prints or paintings that were also re-used for other tapestries. An attribution of this tapestry to him can therefore not be made, although it is certainly executed in the manner of van Roome (A. Cavallo, Medieval Tapestries in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1993, pp. 546 - 547 and N. Forti Grazzini, et al., Mirabilia Ducalia, Vigevano, 1992, pp. 60 - 65). Another set of tapestries that is attributed quite closely to van Roome and that relates closely to this tapestry is a set depicting The Story of Mestra in the Hermitage Museum (N.Y. Biryukova, The Hermitage Leningrad, Gothic and Renaissance Tapestries, London, 1965, figs. 49 - 60).
PLACE OF WEAVING
Traditionally the weaving of this group of tapestries has been attributed to Brussels because of the records that indicate that The Story of Herkenbald, to which all these tapestries are compared, was woven by Léon de Smet in Brussels in 1513. More recent studies have, however, proven such attributions difficult because numerous weaving centres of the region produced very similar works, although the majority of these tapestries are still believed to have been manufactured in Brussels.
A further tapestry of identical design but cropped along all sides was sold anonymously, Christie'’s, London, 24 November 1972, lot 2.2
(C. Adelson, European Tapestry in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, 1994, cat .4, pp. 56 - 69).