‘King Ahab preparing for battle’, A Flemish Old Testament Biblical Tapestry, from the

An Important Northern Renaissance Tapestry
‘King Ahab preparing for battle’, A Flemish Old Testament Biblical Tapestry, from the series ‘The Life of Ahab and the Kings of Israel’, Brussels, circa 1550, workshop of Cornelis de Ronde

Woven in wool and silk, with various figures in a landscape setting, with the large foreground figure of King Ahab in his active encampment preparing for battle, within a wide four-sided border with allegorical standing figures and each lower corner with a further seated figure on car pulled by two camels and two putti respectively, with swags and vases of flowers and further figures, with narrow inner and outer borders the top border centred with a blue ground entablature with the Latin inscription: Mortuum . Regem . Sepelierunt . in . Samaria. Et . linxerunt . canes sanguinem . eius. iuxta. Verbum . domini . quod . locutus . everat (fuerat): They buried the dead king in Samaria and the dogs licked his blood according to the word of the Lord which had been spoken (I Kings 22:37-38), with weaver’s mark

 

Approximately 357cm high, 464cm wide; 11ft. 7in, 15ft. 2in. 

This lot will be on view in our New Bond Street galleries on 9^th, 10^th, 11^th, 12^th, 15^th, 16^th and 17^th January 2024.

Provenance
Probably acquired by Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal, in Antwerp in 1551 (as part of a set of nine tapestries)

Monsieur Leon Somzee Collection, Brussels, late 19th century, auctioned 1901

Charles Mather Ffoulke Collection, Washington D.C., 1901 (Three tapestries from the series)

French & Co, New York, 1926

Nieves Urgell, Barcelona who sold it in 1957 to a Spanish Noble Family.

Literature
Ffouke, Charles Mather, The Ffouke Collection of Tapestries, New York: Privately Printed by Frederic Fairchild Sherman, 1913, pp. 73-78.

Gschwend, Annemarie Jordan, “The Manufacture and Marketing of Flemish Tapestries in Mid-Sixteenth Century Brussels. Two Habsburg Patrons and Collectors: Mary of Hungary and Catherine of Austria”, Ao Modo de Flandres. Disponibilidade, Inovação e Mercado de Arte na Época dos Descobrimentos (1415-1580). Actas do Congresso Internacional celebrado em a Reitoria da Universidade de Lisboa, 11-13 de abril de 2005, eds. Bernardo García García, and Fernando Grilo, Lisbon: Lisboa Universidade de Lisboa/Madrid Fundación Carlos de Amberes, 2005, pp. 91-113.

Exhibited
Through French & Co, at the Wandsworth Atheneum, Connecticut, 1932.

Catalogue note
This important Renaissance tapestry by Cornelis was most likely part of the series acquired by Catherine of Austria from Cornelis de Ronde through her agent Francisco Carneiro in Antwerp in 1551, and subsequently displayed at the Royal palace in Lisbon. This tapestry, together with two other companions known to be in 1913 in the Ffoulke Collection are the only known surviving pieces from the series The Life of Ahab and Kings of Israel by de Ronde and, as of today, Catherine’s series the only one documented.

 

For a discussion on Queen Catherine’s tapestry purchases and collecting see the essay by Annemarie Jordan Gschwend, Metaphors of Princely Rule- Magnificent Flemish Tapestries at the Lisbon Court, after this catalogue note.

 

Charles Mather Ffoulke (d.1909), was a wool merchant and major tapestry collector in Philadelphia and later Washington. He travelled extensively and on a trip to Europe in 1889 he met Princess Barberini and bought her entire tapestry collection, which consisted of 135 tapestries. His fascination and acquisition of tapestries continued all his life. The Ffoulke Collection of Tapestries, was published in 1913 and illustrates many pieces from his collection, including the offered tapestry of ‘Ahab preparing for battle’ (11ft 7in by 15ft 2in: 357 by 464cm), in which the Brussels town mark is visible, the panel of ‘Ahab and Jehoshaphat receiving the prophets’ (11ft 8in by 17ft 5in; 360 by 534cm), and the panel of ‘The Death of Ahab’ (11ft 8in by 15ft 2in; 360 by 464cm), all of which have the same border design. 

The narrative of the tapestry is from the story of the battle of King Ahab, King of the Israelites, in alliance with King Jehoshaphat of Judah, against Ben-Hadad and Syria. From the misjudged acts of Ahab and his false prophet, in selfishly making a treaty, God warns that if you do not fear him, you may not discern his word. In the Bible fearing God is defined as hating that which is evil. As Ahab was disobedient to God, he dies on the battlefield, as Micaiah the prophet foretold. Ahab was criticised for causing moral decline and his sins reflect those of people at large and were to be learnt from and instructive.

 

Tapestries of the 16th century are particularly distinguished in their subject matter, which is moralising and allegorical, their design being especially awe inspiring and stately, and in their incredible virtuosity of technical dyeing and weaving skills. Flemish tapestries of this epoch were highly sought after by the courts of Europe.

 

Cornelis de Ronde (d.1568/early 1569), was a Brussels weaver, recorded in 1551 when he supplied a set of nine tapestries of Ahab and the Kings of Israel, to Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal. There is little recorded of his life. He was dean of The Cornflower chamber of Rhetoricians in 1560. He is known to have supplied tapestries with gold thread to the Marshal De Saint-Andre before 1565. His weaving cypher incorporated his initials, and in accordance with the ordinance of 1528 by the Brussels city magistrates, all tapestries larger than three ells had to include his cypher (or that of whoever had commissioned it) and the town mark, which by May 1544 was an Imperial edict for towns of production to have their town marks on tapestries, which was implemented in Brussels by 1546. His cypher was used in eight tapestry series. The present tapestry has the weaver’s cypher, but the lower later selvedge does not include the Brussels town mark of B(Brussels) B(Brabant) centred by a red shield, which was present on the original blue selvedge of the lower border, and removed during conservation in the early 20th century.

 

Many of de Ronde’s series were influenced the style of the Italian High Renaissance, in their depictions of ancient historical costume design and classical architecture and larger than life mannerist style figures and advanced concepts of space and form. Italian artists such as Raphael (1483-1520) and Perino del Vaga (1501-1547) had a huge influence on the artists of the north and one of the greatest protagonists was the tapestry designer and ‘Renaissance Man’, Pieter Coecke van Aelst (1502-1550) who had travelled extensively within Europe and Ottoman Empire, had many connections and therefore influence on his fellow Flemish weavers. He combined the styles of Italy with those of the great tradition of Netherlandish artists, such as Rogier van der Weyden, Jan van Eyck, Hans Memling and Pieter Bruegel. It resulted in Coecke being held in great esteem by his contemporaries and for two hundred years after his death. Flemish weaving workshops were inevitably inspired by the success of his tapestry designs. Cornelis de Ronde was one of those designers. The border designs were very striking in enclosing the narrative of the tapestries in entablatures, with distinctive classical, elegant compartmentalised designs which incorporated architectural detailing and allegorical figures along with fantastical and imaginary groupings, such as seated figures in cars pulled by small children or animals, such as camels.