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(c) 2016 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Chateau and Garden Tapestry
(c) 2016 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
(c) 2016 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Chateau and Garden Tapestry

tapestry weaver (active Brussels, 1585 - 1626)
Dateabout 1585-1600
Place MadeBrussels, Brussels, Belgium, Europe
MediumWool warp (6 yarns per cm); wool and silk wefts
Dimensions469.9 x 429.3 cm (185 x 169 in.)
ClassificationsFurnishings
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberT18w1
eMuseum ID721691
Alt. No. 1 (Siple)042
Original NumberT18w1-s
Alt. No. 2 (Cavallo)14b
EmbARK ObjectID12365
TMS Source ID1494
Last Updated8/9/24
Status
Not on view
Web CommentaryIsabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.
BibliographyNotesCharles M. Ffoulke et al. The Ffoulke Collection of Tapestries (New York, 1913), pp. 26-27, 104-07, no. 4. (as atelier of Jacques Geubels, Brussels, early 17th century)
Morris Carter. Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court (Boston, 1925; Reprint, Boston, 1972), p. 215, ill.
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), pp. 136-37. (as workshop of Geubels, Brussels, late 16th and early 17th century)
Betty Chamberlain. “Tapestry Room” in Alfred M. Frankfurter (ed). The Gardner Collection (New York, 1946), p. 35.
Jean-Paul Asselberghs. Les tapisseries flamandes aux Etats-Unis d'Amérique (Brussels, 1974), p. 13. (as Brussels, beginning of the 17th century)
Lisa O. Ehret. "Chateau and Garden Tapestries at Fenway Court." Fenway Court (1977), pp. 24-33, fig. 2. (as workshop of Geubels, Brussels, late 16th and early 17th century)
Adolph S. Cavollo. "An Introduction to the Textile Collection at Fenway Court." Fenway Court (1981), p. 8.
Adolph S. Cavallo. Textiles: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1986), pp. 70-78, no. 14b. (as attributed to workshop founded by Geubels, 1585-1600)
Jennifer R. Gross et al. Threads of Dissent. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1999), pp. 12-13. (discusses museum no. T18s5-s)
Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), p. 112. (as Flemish (Brussels), about 1585-1600)
Pascal-François Bertrand. Les tapisseries des Barberini et la décoration d'intérieur dans la Rome baroque (Turnhout, Belgium, 2005), pp. 91, 93, 96. (as workshop of Jacques Geubels, 1585-1600)
ProvenanceNotesThe two Flemish tapestries (museum nos. T18s5-s and T18w1-s) are said to have been purchased by Cardinal Antonio Barberini (1607-1671) from the Geubels workshop (active 1585-1629), Brussels. The two French tapestries (museum nos. T18e35-s and T18e5-s) were later commissioned by Antonio Barberini of a Parisian workshop to compliment the Flemish tapestries. Antonio Barberini bequeathed his tapestries (many installed in his Paris residence) to the Barberini family, Rome in 1671.
Possibly the series refered to as "Fountains, Gardens, and Figures" included in the 1685 inventory of Palazzo Barberini alla Quattro Fontane, Rome made following the death of Prince Maffeo Barberini (1631-1685). (for the inventory, see Bertrand, p. 91; Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Archivo Barberini, Indice II, MS 2451, fols. 9-21)
Remained with the Barberini family until the late nineteenth century.
Purchased by the tapestry collector and scholar Charles Mather Ffoulke (1841-1909), Washington, DC from the Principessa Barberini, Rome in 1889.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from Charles Mather Ffoulke, Washington for $18,500 (for the set of four tapestries) on 16 November 1903.