The return of Orestes and Iphigenia to Aulis', A Mythological Tapestry from The Story of Orestes, Northern Netherlands, workshop of Pieter de Cracht, Gouda or Schoonhaven, after designs by Salomon de Braij circa 1648-1662

woven depicting the triumphal arrival of Iphigenia, Orestes and Pylades and welcome from the inhabitants of Aulis, with the statue of the goddess Artemis being carried aloft in the procession, and the masts of ships in the background; reduced in width and height, lacking border

 

Measurements: 245.5cm up the left side, 245cm up the right side, 346cm across the top, 343cm across the bottom. Tapestry is reduced in width and height. There is a later machine woven selvedge on all four sides. There is a cotton lining on the reverse, with herringbone strip across the top edge with small metal hoops. It is recommended that Velcro should be added to the top edge for hanging purposes in the future. The colours are generally faded overall, with some discolouration in areas, especially to the sky, in the left corner. There are still shades of the original blue to other areas of the sky. There are some areas of repair and reweaving. Small areas of old reweaving along the lower edge, and within the areas of brown in the right hand corner, and in small areas of the hair for example. There is an area of light repair to the area above the hand and head on the far left edge, which has some horizontal splits, held in place by stitching. Repairs include some consolidation stitching, visible on close inspection as the vertical lines and white stitches, which are in the areas of light highlights which are weaker structurally, which is commensurate with age; see for example the yellow highlights to the clothing generally and especially the dress on the far right edge (where the weft threads are lacking, the warp threads are visible, as is the linen interlining behind). This tapestry is in professionally stabilised condition. Now versatile size, balanced colour and composition. Very decorative tapestry.
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Flemish weavers and artists immigrated North to the Netherlands due to political and economical reasons in the 16th and 17th centuries, and various Dutch cities encouraged workshops to develop. This included the weavers Karl van Mander II, François Spierincx, Jacques Nauwincx and Pieter de Cracht from 1610 until the 1650's. The tapestries woven were in the Flemish Baroque tradition and the Greek and Roman subjects were popular. Euripides’ tragedies, including Iphigenia in Tauris, and Iphigenia in Aulis and Orestes, had been translated since the 16^th century, and tapestry designers used the text, along with other influences in iconography and style to add scenes, to their interpretations of the myths in tapestries. All classical writers, in relating the the story of Iphigenia and Orestes include the subject of the return to Aulis, which is depicted in the present tapestry, for which the designers drew on various sources, and there is no pictorial source known.

There are archives between 1648-1650, which specifically record that the weaver and merchant, Pieter de Cracht, provided sets of tapestries from the series The Story of Iphigenia and Orestes’ to the Elector of Brandenburg, and to the Van der Hagen brothers (who traded with Stockholm and the Swedish court). De Cracht, originally from Oudenaarde, with workshops in Gouda and Schoonhoven, not only traded weavings of the series but also had them woven in his own workshop, and he worked with the designer Salomon de Braij (1597-1664), and the painters that worked in the Oranjezaal. Of the number of Iphigenia sets known, commissioned for the German and Swedish nobility, and woven between late 1640’s and early 1650’s, there is a set of five in the Rijksmuseum, which includes a weaving of the present subject, which has more height depicting the sky and tower in the town, and additional figures to the far right, with no town or weaver marks, approximately 365 by 555cm (Inv.BK-19550-100-E). They are woven within a distinctive Solomonic columned architectural border type, originally designed by Peter Paul Rubens in his Apotheosis of the Eucharist (1625-1628), and which was interpreted with variations by the Dutch weavers, but is lacking on the present weaving. 

For comprehensive discussion of the Greek and Roman series woven in the Northern Netherlands, including the series of The Story of Iphigenia and Orestes’ (Story of Atrides), the use of the BB (Brussels Brabant mark) by the Dutch workshops and their own workshop marks, and the influence of Karel van Mander II,see Ebeltje Hartkamp-Jonxis and Hillie Smith, European Tapestries in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 2004, pp.175-180, & 62a-e, pp.241-250.

The Story of Antony and Cleopatra was also a popular subject for Northern Netherlandish tapestries, and was woven by various weavers, and the designs had an influence on those of the present series of Iphigenia. For a weaving of A Classical tapestry, from the Story of Antony and Cleopatra, after Karel van Mander II, Northern Netherlands (possibly Gouda or Schoonhoven, workshop of Nauwincx or de Cracht), second quarter 17th century, with the BB town mark, and the elaborate Solomonic column architectural border, see Sotheby's London: Tuesday, October 28, 2014, lot 306.