A Brussels Historical Tapestry from the Series The Story of Cyrus the Great

Attributed to Jan Van Tieghem, after a design attributed to Maerten van Heemskerck, Third Quarter 16th Century

woven in wool and silk, depicting ‘King Astyage recognizing the young Cyrus’, with the enthroned King Astyage beneath a draped canopy, before him a seated attendant holding a writing tablet, to the left the young Cyrus with the shepherd Mithridates within an elaborate four-sided border with alternating allegorical figures, wild beasts in landscape vignettes and scrollwork cartouches enclosing mythological scenes, interspersed with strapwork vases, putti and grotesques, the lower border with Latin inscription, FAMA CONSTAT BELLUM and REGNUM AUTEM IVSTICIA ET LIBERALITATE, within further narrow scrolling ribbon and stylized floral motif borders.
13 feet 2 inches x 14 feet 9 inches.

Property from a Private Family Trust

This lot is located in Chicago.

Provenance:

Private Collection

Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2008

Note:

En suite with the following lot, this panel is part of one of the largest and most ambitious narrative series of the 16th century, depicting “The Story of Cyrus the Great”. Two closely related sets, one comprising 10, the other 6 panels, are in the Spanish Royal collection, with the present scene featuring in the larger set (A.F. Calvert, The Spanish Royal Tapestries, London, plate 100). Woven before 1560, that set has the signatures of the weavers Jan van Tieghem and Franc Ghieteels. The cartoons for the series had previously been attributed to Giovanni Stradano (d. 1605) and Michiel Coxcie (d. 1592), but in the catalogue of the Spanish Royal collection the series is convincingly attributed to Maerten van Heemskerck (d. 1574), a Flemish painter in the Roman school.

The subject of this tapestry is one of the earliest of the series, depicting the young Cyrus being recognized by his grandfather, King Astyages. Cyrus, nowadays regarded father of the ancient Persians, was the grandson of Astyages, King of Medes. Astyages dreamt that the baby would overthrow him, so ordered him slain, but he was rescued by shepherds. The young Cyrus was found again aged 10 and allowed to live because of his outstanding qualities. When older, he revolted against his grandfather, who marched against the rebel. Astyages' army, however, deserted him and in 550 B.C. he surrendered to Cyrus.

A Brussels Historical Tapestry from the Series The Story of Cyrus the Great