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Lot Essay
This magnificent tapestry of impressive size and retaining beautiful and vivid colours depicts scenes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, in particular that of Venus and Adonis and the story of Diana.
The design and execution relate to the oeuvre of Peter Spierinckx (1635-1711) and Peter Ijkens (1648-1698), designers based in Antwerp who collaborated on a number of designs for the Brussels tapestry workshops and in particular designs of Ovid's Metamorphoses and the life of the Goddess Diana.
The scene on the right of this tapestry, depicting Venus and Adonis, with Venus seated next to Adonis and his hounds before a water garden and an alley of beech trees, relates directly to a tapestry of Venus and Adonis from a Brussels or Antwerp workshop, circa 1680-1720, after designs by Peter Ijkens (1648-1698) and Peter Spierinckx, sold Koller, Zurich, 23 March 2016, lot 1083. This scene shows clearly the influence of earlier Flemish painting and relates somewhat to Peter Paul Rubens' Venus and Adonis currently preserved in the Met, New York (inv. no. 37.162). The border of this tapestry with rich bunches of flowers and fruits on a tobaaco ground, as well as the scene to the left of the tapestry depcting Diana at the hunt is closely related, in the execution of the figures and landscape as well as in subject matter, to a tapestry circa 1700-1720, possibly from the Story of Diana, after designs by Louis van Schoor and Pieter Spierinckxy sold 'A Mayfair Pied-à-Terre: An Interior by Alidad'; Sotheby's 2 February 2021, lot 91.
Professor Guy Delmarcel has identified these tapestries as part of a larger set, comprising of nine or ten tapestries, many of which were sold through auctions in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, one of which was also sold through Koller, Zurich, 13 June 1985, lot 1312, and five which were sold by Sotheby’s, Florence, 24 May 1979, lots 1398-1402. Two others are in a Genoese Private Collection.
The design and execution relate to the oeuvre of Peter Spierinckx (1635-1711) and Peter Ijkens (1648-1698), designers based in Antwerp who collaborated on a number of designs for the Brussels tapestry workshops and in particular designs of Ovid's Metamorphoses and the life of the Goddess Diana.
The scene on the right of this tapestry, depicting Venus and Adonis, with Venus seated next to Adonis and his hounds before a water garden and an alley of beech trees, relates directly to a tapestry of Venus and Adonis from a Brussels or Antwerp workshop, circa 1680-1720, after designs by Peter Ijkens (1648-1698) and Peter Spierinckx, sold Koller, Zurich, 23 March 2016, lot 1083. This scene shows clearly the influence of earlier Flemish painting and relates somewhat to Peter Paul Rubens' Venus and Adonis currently preserved in the Met, New York (inv. no. 37.162). The border of this tapestry with rich bunches of flowers and fruits on a tobaaco ground, as well as the scene to the left of the tapestry depcting Diana at the hunt is closely related, in the execution of the figures and landscape as well as in subject matter, to a tapestry circa 1700-1720, possibly from the Story of Diana, after designs by Louis van Schoor and Pieter Spierinckxy sold 'A Mayfair Pied-à-Terre: An Interior by Alidad'; Sotheby's 2 February 2021, lot 91.
Professor Guy Delmarcel has identified these tapestries as part of a larger set, comprising of nine or ten tapestries, many of which were sold through auctions in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, one of which was also sold through Koller, Zurich, 13 June 1985, lot 1312, and five which were sold by Sotheby’s, Florence, 24 May 1979, lots 1398-1402. Two others are in a Genoese Private Collection.