THE fifteenth century saw Gothic tapestries carried to their highest point of perfection. Bruges had become a centre of pictorial art next only to Italy. Memling, the Van Eycks, and Bernard Van Orley were giving life, freedom, and originality to the old stilted Gothic forms in painting, and it was to them that the art of tapestry weaving owed its greatest debt.
But to the Flemish weavers themselves no small part of the artistic merit of the Gothic tapestries is to be ascribed. The master-weaver was an artist, not a craftsman. To him the designer left many details of design; he was at liberty to alter cartoons that could not be satisfactorily translated into tapestry, to choose colourings, even to introduce new figures into the picture. In the fifteenth century the tapissiers were still conscientious, refusing to hurry their work to the detriment of its quality. Artist and tapissier alike, now perfect masters of the art, spent their time perfecting the methods that had made the name of Flemish tapestry in the preceding century. The tapestries described in the following pages belong to this period, just before the spirit of the Italian Renaissance completely banished the old native forms of art from the north of Europe. The first cartoons of Raphael were still to come to the Flemish workshops, but already men were talking of the wonders of Italy, and certain signs of transition are strongly marked in the tapestries with which we are dealing. In many the Gothic architecture of the background has given way to Renaissance, and the sky-line has been lowered. Or sometimes while the background remains under the Gothic inspiration, the treatment of the figures, more especially of the robes, shows the Renaissance influence. The chief characteristics that distinguish these tapestries from the earlier Gothic are the greater freedom in the attitudes of the figures, the perfection of detail, and the absence of exaggeration, particularly in the patterns of fabrics and of dress ornaments.
Group 4. The Story of St. John the Baptist
Date and origin uncertain, but evidently belong to the transition period. The figures show the realism and elegance of the Italian painters, while the buildings in the background are Gothic. The tapestries show different episodes in the life of the Saint. The similarity of their exquisitely woven borders suggests that they belong to the same series. They are woven in fine wool, silk, gold, and silver. The subjects are as follows:
(1) Visit of the Holy Virgin to her cousin Elizabeth. Zaccharius recovers his speech.
(2) The child John asks permission to devote himself to God.
(3) St. John, asked by the Pharisee if he is the Christ, replies: “Behold the Lamb of God.”
(4) He baptizes Jesus and many others. End of the reign of the Jews.
Group 5. The Passion of Our Lord (2 Episodes)
These two tapestries, richly woven in gold, silk, and wool, were made by command of Princess Margaret of Austria, the Regent of the Netherlands. These were inherited by her nephew Charles V. They are mentioned in an inventory that Margaret caused to be made in 1525, five years before her death.