A Parc Sauvages Tapestry

A Parc Sauvages Tapestry.

Wool and silk.

Workshop of Jan Raes.

Flemish, Brussels, circa 1600.

Provenance:

Private collection, Belgium, for more than 60 years.

This superb tapestry belongs to a small group of works referred to as 'Verdues with Animals' or 'Parc Sauvages' ('Animal Parks'), some of which depict scenes of combat between wild beasts.

Both the combative versions of these tapestries, which became known as ‘Pugnae Ferarum’ (‘Combat of the Wild Animals’), and the 'Parc Sauvages' examples, were inspired by the 16th century Southern Netherlandish painted landscapes of Gillis I of Coninckxloo and Hans Vredeman de Vries and integrate harmoniously a wide variety of both fantastic and real animals.

Highly decorative, the present tapestry corresponds, both iconographically and stylistically, with the celebrated 44 16th century Brussels Verdue panels found in the Wawel Castle of Krakow designed by Pieter Coecke van Aelst of Antwerp and with the Verdure with Wild Animals in the Borromeo collection on Isola Bella in Lago Maggiore in Northern Italy attributed to Willem Tons of Brussels and believed to date from around 1565.

The tapestries in the Borromeo collection convey a Messianic symbolism with an underlying theme of the Triumph of Christianity and Redemption of Man. They depict the Fall of Mankind at the Creation and Man’s salvation through the Passion of Christ.

Dimensions

Price on application

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance