In weaving many of the figures the warp is curved to follow the contours.
The naïve directness and unassuming sincerity of the piece give it great interest.
7 TOURNAI, THIRD QUARTER XV CENTURY
Wool.
H. 10 ft. 6 in.
W. 8 ft. 9 in.
THE HISTORY OF HERCULES: Hercules, clad in a magnificent suit of shining black armor, rides into the thickest tumult of a furious battle; with sword in his right hand, he skillfully parries the thrust of a huge lance, while with the other hand he deals a swinging backhand blow that smites an enemy footman into insensibility. His next opponent, obviously bewildered and frightened, has half-turned to flee. The whole apparatus of mediæval combat is shown in intense and crowded action. The piece is incomplete.
This tapestry illustrates one of the favorite stories of the Middle Ages, and was undoubtedly originally one of a set. In design it is closely related to the famous Wars of Troy series, many examples of which are known and some of the first sketches for which are in the Louvre. It is also closely related to the History of Titus set in the Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Nantilly de Saumur.[4] Both of these sets are signed by Jean Van Room, and this piece also is undoubtedly from his cartoon. All of these pieces were probably woven between 1460 and 1470.
Jean Van Room (sometimes called de Bruxelles) is one of the most interesting personalities connected with the history of Gothic tapestry. He was a cartoon painter and probably conducted a large studio, judging from the number of pieces of his which are left to us. Fortunately, he had a habit of signing his name on obscure parts of the designs, such as the borders of garments. His work extends over sixty years and changes markedly in style during that time, adapting itself to the changing taste of his clients. This piece illustrates his earliest manner. In the succeeding decades he is more and more affected by the Renaissance and the Italian influence, until his latest pieces (cf. No. 21) are quite unlike these first designs. At the close of the century he began to collaborate with Maître Philippe, evidently a younger man, who had had Italian instruction and was less restrained by early Gothic training (cf. Nos. 17-19).
Jean Van Room seems to have done designs for enamels, also, that were executed in the studio of the so-called Monvaerni. In the collection of Otto H. Kahn is a Jesus before Pilate very close in style to Jean Van Room's early work,[5] on which appear the letters M E R A, which might even be a pied misspelling of Room, for similar confused signatures appear on tapestries known to be his. A triptych with Crucifixion in the collection of Charles P. Taft[6] has figures very close to the Crucifixion tapestry in the Cathedral of Angers done by Van Room in his middle period. According to Marquet de Vasselot, this enamel bears the letters JENRAGE, but M. de Vasselot also comments on its illegibility in the present condition of the enamel. Could he have misread a letter or two? Still another triptych with Crucifixion, in the Hermitage,[7] actually repeats two figures from the Angers Crucifixion with only very slight variations.
Jean Van Room borrowed liberally from various other artists at different stages of his career. In the Wars of Troy, the History of Titus, and this piece he seems to have relied primarily on Jean le Tavernier for his models, the affiliation being especially close in the Wars of Troy. Le Tavernier is known to have illustrated the Wars of Troy,[8] and Jean Van Room, judging from the close stylistic relations of his Troy tapestries with le Tavernier's drawings, evidently took his hints from this lost manuscript.