Flemish Baroque Biblical Tapestry

“Story of Noah and the Ark”

Brussels 17th century

360 x 450 cm

Large scale figurative tapestries came into prevalence in the 14th century and were predominately produced in Flanders, Brussels being the capital,  where there was a flourishing textile industry that was a primary factor in the expansive prosperity of the country, making it one of the richest and most urbanized parts of Europe through trading, and the weaving of imported English wool into cloth for both domestic and export. As a consequence, a very sophisticated culture developed, with impressive achievements in the arts and architecture, as well as with the designing and weaving of tapestries.

The subjects of Medieval and Renaissance tapestry designs were exclusively taken from ancient mythology, the Bible, or the heroic episodes from the lives of contemporary figures of royalty or of military prowess. There is almost an infinite compendium of the many exploits, tales, and histories of the isolated episodes portrayed in tapestries involving these three areas of cultural phenonmena.

Without exception all were allegorical and purposefully fixated on a visual extravagance that projected the power and grandeur of the nobility and the aristocrats that commissioned these often monumental works.   

Exclusively woven in sets, each individual composition displayed an isolated episode related to the principal celebrated protagonist.

Many sets or series of tapestries depicting the life of Noah were woven since the 16th century. Probably the most famous being in the Royal collection of Sigismund II Augustus of Poland in Wawel Royal Castle in Kraków, designed by Michiel Coxcie the Elder (1499–1592).

The present tapestry is an episode in the life and deeds of Noah. Unquestionably woven in Brussels, the designer and weaver are unknown until now. Further investigation is continuing.

AF