The design, composition and style of Renaissance art works, including elaborate tapestries, were required to be formally integrated within their intended location and function.
The tapestry was made in 1460 and owned by Georges de Saluces, Bishop of Lausanne. The ownership is identifiable by a series of armorial shields incorporated into the upper edge of the tapestry. This history of the tapestry fits in with its function as well as the choice of subject matter, and by extension, the choice of the painting by Rogier van der Weyden to serve as the model.
Function of the Tapestry in Brussels Town Hall
Rogier’s painting of The Justice of Trajan and Herkinbald was hung in the Brussels town hall. The aldermen of Brussles commissioned the tapestry replica of the painting to be used for public display, perhaps on the exterior of the town hall during civic festivities. The advantage of the tapestry as a portable and flexible art form allowed the celebrated images by the accomplished Brussels painter to be integrated into the public spectacle.
The tapestry in possession of the Bishop of Lausanne might have been used as a luxurious item of interior furnishings when receiving important guests or, as in case of the Apocalypse series of Angers, as an exterior decoration during religious occasions. It would have functioned as a demonstration of the just rule of God and, by implication, the Bishop himself.
Representation of Just Rule
Bret Rothstein points out that the principal message in Rogier’s work was judicial practice safeguarded by divine intervention. The subject matter was then appropriate choice for both, the Brussels aldermen and the Bishop of Lausanne. Compositionally, the tapestry is divided into three narratives, each centred on an important figure of authority. Each narrative is further subdivided into two episodes featuring the same protagonist in temporary progression.
Justice of Secular Rulers and Justice of the Church
Emperor Trajan and a local ruler Herkinbald are shown on either side as secular rulers engaged in dispensing justice: hearing an accusation and carrying out just punishment in the public (Trajan), and executing the criminal and receiving the sacrament from God in private (Herkinbald).
While Trajan’s realm is a public space of the community, with town architecture in the background and Herkinbald occupies a private, confined space of an individual, the middle of the tapestry depicts Gregory the Great within the architectural setting of a church.
The Pope thus represents the ecclesiastical authority. He is not shown dispensing justice but represents the divine rule and acts as a mediator between the two men and God. This part then forms a symbolic as well as compositional link between the two lateral stories as God endorses both acts of just rule through Gregory.
Tapestry and Prestige of the Community
Displayed in the town hall or hung in the Bishop’s palace, the 11-metre tapestry encouraged a very careful observation and inspired focused concentration. Made of gold and silver metal – wrapped threads, the possession of the tapestry would have been a statement of wealth. As a high quality product the tapestry is woven very finely which allows for plenty of minute details: foliage, elaborate costumes, shiny armour, even architecture and stained-glass windows.
The upper edge embellished with small canvas shields suggests that the tapestry was purchased ready-made and was then personalised. This would have been a cheaper alternative whilst at the same time a guarantee of quality as the textile was produced in Brussels, as well as the proof of the thriving and busy tapestry market in Brussels.
Sources
- Richardson, Carol M: Locating Renaissance Art, Yale University Press, 2007
- Rothstein, Bret: ‘Looking the part: ruminative viewing and the imagination of community in the early modern Low Countries’, Art History, 31:1, February 2008, pp. 1-32
Zuzana Minarikova - I live in London and work in publishing in Bloomsbury which is an exciting part of London, full of museums, galleries, bookshops and ...
