BRUSSELS, CIRCA 1655-1670, ATTRIBUTED TO MARCUS DE VOS, AFTER PIETER COECKE VAN AELST

Details

A FLEMISH HISTORICAL TAPESTRY
BRUSSELS, CIRCA 1655-1670, ATTRIBUTED TO MARCUS DE VOS, AFTER PIETER COECKE VAN AELST
Woven in silks and wools, probably depicting 'The Reunion of Pompey and Cornelia at Sea' from 'The Story of Caesar', with three small boats in choppy waters and further boats beyond, within an elaborate border decorated with military trophies, putti and ribbon-tied floral garlands, centred to the top with a cartouche inscribed 'CAESAR/NAVIBVS MILIRTES/ TRANS VEHIIVET.' and an imperial crown to the lower border, losses to the light silks with fairly extensive re-weaving including most of the sky and within the blue outer slip replaced.
13 ft. 5 in. x 17 ft. 11 in. (409 cm. x 546 cm.)

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Lot Essay

A set of four tapestries from the series ‘The story of Caesar’, including the present panel, is at Powys Castle, Wales, in the Collection of the National Trust. Signed by Marcus de Vos (fl. 1655-1697) they can be dated to the third quarter of the 17th century and represent – like the present tapestry – the third ‘generation’ of weavings based on cartoons first conceived in the 1540s and at least in parts attributed to Pieter Coecke van Aelst. The earliest recorded set of ‘Caesar’ tapestries appeared in the posthumus inventories of Henry VIII in 1547, while another set of 10 was acquired by Pope Julius III between 1550 and 1555.
Another version of this tapestry, like this example unsigned, is in the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburg (Accession Number 54.5.1).

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