designed before 1645, woven ca. 1645–75, Mortlake

designed before 1645, woven ca. 1645–75, Mortlake

Identifier
57.127
Transfer of custody
Victoria and Albert Museum
Acquisition
Gift of Amory S. Carhart, 1957
Collection
Material
Technique
Depiction
Dimension
345.3999938964844 cm (height)
464.79998779296875 cm (width)
Production time
Production place
Type of object

Description

This tapestry is one from a nine-piece series known as the Hunters’ Chase. Curiously-enough, given its secular subject-matter, the original edition was commissioned by the Dutch Church in London, in 1645. Francis Clein designed four of the pieces in the series from scratch; the other five, including News of the Stag, were based on existing tapestry designs by the great 16th-century artist Bernard van Orley for his influential, Brussels-woven Hunts of Maximilian. Hunters’ Chase proved incredibly popular for Mortlake, resulting in much-needed commissions for the floundering manufactory: at least 8 different re-editions were woven during the following decades, including that of which this News of the Stag was part.For more info see Edith Standen, European post-medieval tapestries and related hangings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1985 (vol.2, cat.125) and Wendy Hefford in Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor, MMA exh.cat. 2007 (p.182).