Flemish Renaissance Historical Tapestry

Oudenaarde Flanders

16th Century

235 x 338 cm

This tapestry is clearly from the Flemish village of Oudenaarde and almost certainly part of a series dedicated to the life of “Alexander the Great", a popular contemporary subject.

The center right figure depicts the mounted Alexander in single combat with an opposing mounted warrior of some Nobel or military-aristocratic significance, possibly Spithridates.

Above the plumed head of Alexander’s horse Bucephalus, a boat crosses a stream. Although the table on the right side of the stream illicits confusion, the depicted river crossing could possibly represent the river Granikos and the battle that was fought there against the Persian Asia Minor satrapy at Sardis commanded by Spithridates* in 332 BC.

A thought provoking detail are the two figures directly behind the protagonist and square centered in the total composition. The faces of these two youthful figures, the first clearly a woman, and the second a clean shaven young man, seem curiously out of place in the context of an important military engagement. The female figure could well be Margaret of Parma, born in Oudenaarde, the illegitimate daughter of Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor. The young clean shaven man directly behind her could thus be her half-brother, Philip II d’Asburgo, son of Carlos V and future King of Spain.

*Arrian’s spelling

AF