CIRCA 1510-1530, IN THE MANNER OF LENAART KNOEST THE ELDER

The companion piece to this magnificent tapestry, depicting The Presentation in the Temple was sold anonymously at Christie's, London, 18 May 1995, lot 213. They are very likely to have formed part of a more extensive set of tapestries illustrating The Live of the Virgin Mary or The Life of Christ such as the Duke of Alba Passion series, probably originally designed by Bernard van Orley (d. 1541) for Cardinal Wolsey or Henry VIII. The offered lot, on the other hand, relates more closely to the work of Lenaart Knoest the Elder (fl. 1501 - 1517), who was a prolific designer of tapestries according to contemporary documents. However, few tapestry designs can today be firmly attributed to him. The only 'signed' tapestry, inscribed 'KNOEST', is in the Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, Brussels, entitled The Discovery of the True Cross, and shows several figures in an architectural setting (M. Crick-Kuntziger, Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis te Brussel, Catalogus van de Wandtapijten, Brussels, 1956, cat. 13, fig. 17). It is dated to circa 1510 and combines a similar staged figural composition with the fluid and rich Renaissance-inspired architecture and its perspectives as displayed in the offered lot and the companion piece. A further unattributed tapestry depicting Niobe discarding the Sacrifices to Latona in the Museu de Lamego, Portugal, also fits in the same group of tapestries with its open architecture and the 'frozen' movement of the figures, however, with slightly more advanced volumetric design to the protagonists (M. J. de Mondonça, Inventario de Tapeçarias existentes en Museus e Palacios Nacionais, Lisbon, 1983, cat 2, p. 100). A very large number of tapestries are ascribed to very few designers of the period, but the sheer number of such tapestries makes it probable that there were a substantial number of painters working in this field and thus a firm attribution becomes difficult in the absence of signatures and documented pieces.

(T, Campbell, ed., Tapestry in the Renaissance, Art and Magnificence, 'exhibition catalogue', New York, 2002, p. 138)