The Spanish Royal Tapestries

THE SPANISH SERIES THE SPANISH ROYAL TAPESTRIES
THE SPANISH SERIES EDITED BY ALBERT F. CALVERT
Goya Toledo Madrid Seville Murillo Cordova El Greco Velasquez The Prado The Escorial Sculpture in Spain Murcia and Valencia Royal Palaces of Spain Spanish Arms and Armour Granada and Alhambra Leon, Burgos and Salamanca Tapestries of the Royal Palace Catalonia and Balearic Islands Valladolid, Oviedo, Segovia Zamora, Avila and Zaragoza
London JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD

BY ALBERT F. CALVERT WITH 277 ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMXXI H. & K., Ltd., London, S.E. 1
In point of size, scope and general interest, this little book is perhaps the least considerable of the score of volumes comprised in The Spanish Series, but the collection would have lacked something of the completeness I have endeavoured to secure for it, if the subject of which it treats had not been included. As is inevitable in a series of this kind, many of the books are devoted to aspects and monuments of Spanish history and achievement, which have served the purpose of writers in all ages, but which could not, on that account, be omitted, while others have an imperative claim to inclusion on the ground that, though of secondary importance, they have never been dealt with elsewhere.
The Tapestries which are here reproduced in greater number and variety than has hitherto been attempted are known to students and connoisseurs the world over, but the measure of that knowledge is limited. Many of the pieces in the possession of the Spanish Crown were acquired by purchase or inheritance, and others were woven in the Netherlands to the command of its Burgundian rulers, Margaret of Austria and Mary of Hungary. The fabrics designed by Goya owed their existence to the extraordinary interest displayed in the products of the looms by Charles III., while the famous Tunis Tapestries were designed and woven by Jan Vermay or Vermeyen, the Court painter and Wilhelm Pannemaker, the celebrated Flemish weaver, under the personal direction of the Emperor Charles V. Vermeyen accompanied the expedition which was launched against Tunis by Charles in 1535 and made his sketches on the spot; the contract given to Pannemaker by his Imperial patron stipulated the amount and quality of the silk and the number and value of the gold and silver threads to be employed; and both designs and finished pieces had to be submitted to the Emperor’s scrutiny and approval before the purchase price was paid.