Lot 463: A FLEMISH GENRE TAPESTRY, BRUSSELS, FROM SERIES `SCENES OF COUNTRY LIFE', AFTER JACOB JORDAENS BETWEEN 1629 AND 1650

A FLEMISH GENRE TAPESTRY, BRUSSELS, FROM SERIES `SCENES OF COUNTRY LIFE', AFTER JACOB JORDAENS BETWEEN 1629 AND 1650 depicting scene of `Lady and Gentleman in an Arbour', alluding to the loves of Mars and Venus within a garden of love, woven with a young couple, offered wine by a young male attendant in the presence of an elderly lady standing behind, all within an architectural surround centred with cabochon enclosing two hands holding a heart, the figures set behind a marble balustrade, with wooden vine covered arbour extending into the background, flanked by elaborate columns, joined by a tie-rod supporting a brightly coloured feathered bird, with richly motifed architrave and lower border set against blue outer ground approximately 395cm. high, 258cm. wide; 13ft., 8ft. 5in.

`Scenes of Country Life', is a tapestry series of eight panels, woven from designs by Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678). Cartoons no longer exist, though some water colour drawings have survived, along with compositions of the subject in oil on canvas.

For discussion of this series, and a comparable weaving of this subject (381 by 263cm) , which is from a complete set in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, see Kristi Nelson, Jacob Jordaens, Design for Tapestry, Brepols, 1998, Part II- Catalogue, Nos. 16-25, Scenes of Country Life, pp.85-100, No.20, pl. 47, pg.270.

The earliest complete series of eight pieces is considered to be those at Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, woven by, and with the marks of, Jacob II Geubels. Other Brussels workshops wove editions of the series, including Hendrik I Reydams (f.1629-1669), and Conrad van der Bruggen (f.1622 - ). Five panels from a set purchased in Brussels by General Octavio Piccolomini in 1629 survive in Nàchod Castle, Czech Republic, which was converted into the Baroque style by the General. See Guy Delmarcel, Flemish Tapestries, London, 1999, No.9, Scenes of Country Life, pp.290-294, for discussion of the series and illustrations of the Vienna set, and two water colour `modello' from the series, the Victoria and Albert Museum London, and the Staatliche Museen, Berlin.