PHILLIPE DE HONDT (FLEMISH 1683-1741)
LA MARCHE
£20,000
Auction: 29 May 2008 at 12:00 BST
Description
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
110cm x 140cm (43.25in x 55.25in)
Footnote
Note: This painting offers a fascinating insight into the tapestry industry in Belgium in the early eighteenth century. It is in fact a cartoon, a preparatory work for for the purposes of copying and transferring the design into a tapestry, in this case a series of eight, altogether known as the Art of War tapestries. It was created between 1715 and 1720 for the use of Brussels' largest tapestry workshop at the time, that of Judocus de Vos.
The series of the Art of War were a popular set of tapestries to be commissioned by local rulers who furnished their seats with these reminders of their military triumphs and prowess. Thirteen sets of this series are known to have been woven, all in the 'basse-lisse', or low warp weaving, also known as Gobelin, where the weaver employed a cartoon which was painted in the reverse. Many of these sets have been dispersed but one survives complete and today hangs at Schloss Schleissheim, north of Munich, complete with a tapestry of La Marche.