This tapestry’s design belongs to the style of the “small-figure genre”, popularized towards the end of the century in part to compensate for vagaries of weaving execution threatened by the migration of weavers during the civil and religious unrest in the Habsburg Netherlands during these years.  Stylistically, Noble Retinue in a Landscape appears to be a later work and may prove to be a useful example of van Herzeele’s work after he had relocated to Antwerp for the last eight years of his life. Bearing in mind the Italian patrons of the Victorian and Albert Museum’s van Herzeele-woven five-part Landscape with the Arms of the Contarini family of Venice (127-130, a – 1869), as well as the Genovese patron, Andrea Doria, of the Doria Grotesques, and the inclusion of the arms of Cardinal Montalto (subsequently Pope Sixtus V) on the Story of the Sabines and the Romans, it is possible that, upon further investigation, Noble Retinue in a Landscape, with its Italianate border, might likewise have been an Italian commission.

The action takes place on a quay where a fish market is in progress. The extreme foreground, showing earth, rocks, plants, rodents, and rabbits, is not part of the original composition. Beyond and above this, in what was originally the foreground of the scene, two women with market baskets are selecting fish from three fishermen who kneel by their baskets and tubs. A boy learning on a staff watches from the left, while a man smoking a pipe stands at the right edge of the group. To the right of this figure, and behind him, is a man leading a donkey. Farther to the right a man leans over a basket of fish and grasps its handles while another man stands over him and appears to direct his work.
Behind the figures the quay extends into the distance diagonally from left to right. There are a number of tall buildings (some with elaborate masonry features) and figures on the quay at the left. Opposite this, at the right edge of the tapestry, is the prow of a sailing vessel. Three smaller boats appear in the water in the middle and far distance. The original borders and guards did not survive. A gray and beige guard has been sewn on.

This is one of two tapestries in the MFA-Boston collection from the series THE STORY OF ACHILLES.  The subject of this weaving derives from Homer's Iliad, Book I.  Agamemnon decides that if his lovely captive Chryseis is to be sent back to her father, Chryses, then he will take Briseis, Achilles' enchanting captive.  Achilles, enraged by this pronouncement, draws his sword to attack Agamemnon, but Minerva (whom Juno sent to prevent violence) restrains him.  The scene in the tapestry takes place on a dais under or before a tent.  In the center background, Agamemnon begins to rise from his throne but is dissuaded by the elderly Nestor and two other men who approach from the right.  In the forward left corner, Achilles is about to draw his sword and turns to face the floating half-figure of Minerva, who grasps his hair.  The foreground plane shows the proscenium of terminal figures-and-cornice. In this case, the terminal figure at the left represents Blind Passion, and the one at the right probably represents Envy.  Two garlands of leaves, grasped at the centers by putti, decorate the cornice and flank the oval cartouche in the center which is inscribed as follows: 
ABSTINET A FERRO AE ACIDES RETINENTE MINERVA ("Achilles abstains from the sword because Minerva restrains him.")  A great lion lies chained in the center foreground. It may be intended as a symbol of Achilles' violence being held in check or as an allusion to his been fed on the entrails of lions when he was a child.

Ground: fine Brussels bobbin mesh. Design: delicately drawn conventionalized floral forms worked with needle and appliqued on bobbin mesh. Bobbin heading sewed across top.

It has been suggested that the tapestry illustrates a tale recorded or invented by the sixteenth century mythographer Natale Conti.    According to Conti, there was an oracle combining the prophecy that the Trojan War could not be won without Achilles with an earlier prophecy forseeing Achilles death in the war.  Here, Thetis is shown entering a hall or temple  from the right, her right hand resting on the head of the nude young son who walks before her. A priest stands left of center behind an altar separating him from the boy Achilles, and the gestures over the flame. Two acolytes, each holding a lamp, flank the priest. A dead lamb lies on the floor before the altar; its body is partially obscured by a ewer and basin lying on a small covered table in the extreme foreground.  Behind the figures rises a wall elaborately articulated with pilasters and a shell-capped niche. A proscenium-like border encloses the entire scene. It consists of a pair of terminal figures at the sides- the one at the left representing Minerva (War)  and the one at the right Hercules (Strength), the two gods to whom the child was dedicated- supporting a cornice decorated with garlands of fruit grasped by putti. The small covered table and a pair of cornucopia, spilling palm and laurel branches, continue the enframement across the bottom. An oval cartouche in the center of the cornice above bears the following inscription : 
ACHILLES PVER A MATRE ADDVCITVR AD ORACVLVM ("The boy Achilles is taken to the oracle by his mother")

Border of various à jours.  Design of sprays of roses and other flowers.  Valued by donor at 200 fr.

This tapestry is one in a series dealing with landscapes and animals.  The setting is a forest with a valley and church in background.  A fox with dead cock is in center foreground with other animals around them.  Columns form side borders; winged putti with swags of fruit form top, botton borders. Right guard band has town mark of Enghien and mark of merchant-weaver Henderick Vander Camen. Lower guard band has name "HENDERICK VANDER CAMEN." Repairs in silks throughout.

The design consists of a group of men in foreground facing left and standing on carpets, three groups of armed men in the background and two groups mounted. The colors are blue, red, yellow, and brown.

Probably the right side (17.325 is the left) of a larger tapestry depicting a king seated on a throne under a canopy (either the welcoming of a messenger or a trial of justice).

Design pictures a crowned woman standing  in an archway with 5 putti, Fecunditas, at her head. Acanthus borders with plain blue galoons.

The subject of this tapestry derives from various accounts of the deeds of Publius Cornelius Scipio, called the African, during the Second Punic War (219-201BC). The scene is a battlefield. In the foreground, a man struggles to rise from the ground and free himself from his horse which has fallen under him. He is indentified by an inscription on the hem of his tunic as C.SCEIPON. Another man, standing behind the fallen figure, helps him to rise. The valian rider is his son Scipio Africanus, labeled SCIPON on the hem of his tunic. Two other men, one striding forward to right of center and the other mounted above and behind the fallen rider, ward off the attacks of enemy cavalry and troops.   
The wide borders on each side show a figure of Diana, with a cresent on her forehead, and a sheath of arrows slung over one shoulder, below this is a figure of Jupiter wearing a crown and holding a sceptre in one hand and thunderbolts in the other. In the lower border is Juno with her peacock. Balancing this is a seated figure of Venus with Cupid; in addition are cherubs, fruit, flowers and a medallion.  The upper border contains similar bouquets and the following inscription: SERVAVIT IVVENIS PATREM VECTUMQ [E] CABALLO REDDIT, QUI POENO VVLNERE LAPSUS ERAT ("The young man saved his his father and brought him back borne on a horse, For he had fallen from a Punic wound.")

..1589, Flanders

Description