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The exhibition reconstructs
the
iconographic sequence of Ovid’s tale of the loves of Mercury
and
Herse, reuniting the eight tapestries on this story made by Pannemaker.
The
panels are now divided between the private collection of the Fundación
Casa
Ducal de Medinaceli, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and
the
Museo del Prado, all of which own two tapestries each, while the
remaining
two are in the private collections of the Casa de Alba and the Dukes
of
Cardona.
As recent research undertaken for
the
purposes of this exhibition has revealed, from 1603 onwards this series of
The Wedding
of
Mercury,
woven by Willem de Pannemaker – tapestry-maker and supplier to
the
royal courts of the Flemish Renaissance – was in the collection
of
Francisco de Sandoval y Rojas, 1st Duke of Lerma and favourite of
Philip
III. Pannemaker’s allegorical/mythological tapestries,
whose
compositions are heavily indebted to those of Raphael, reveal
the
Duke’s particular preference for tapestry and for Flemish and
Italian
art, a taste also manifested in the rest of his collection. With this
in
mind, the exhibition will also include the Portrait of the Duke of Lerma on
Horseback
by Rubens, also of 1603.
Ovid’s story of love
and
jealousy, the main protagonists of which are Mercury, Herse and
Aglauros,
can be followed in the eight panels of this tapestry
series.
Mercury’s descent to earth, his encounter with Aglauros, Herse
and
Pandrosos (daughters of Cecrops, King of Attica), the seduction of
Herse,
and the transformation or metamorphosis of Aglauros, brought about
by
Mercury, are the key episodes in these panels. They are framed by
splendid
borders designed for the tapestry series of The Acts of the
Apostles,
which was based on designs by Raphael and made for the Sistine Chapel.
Willem de Pannemaker was active
from
1535 to 1581. Born into the leading family of tapestry weavers in
Brussels,
Pannemaker was the most celebrated tapestry-maker of the
Flemish
Renaissance. He worked for the aristocracy and the principal
European
courts of the 16th century, supplying those of Charles I of Spain
(the
Emperor Charles V of Germany) and his son Philip II with
magnificent
tapestries.
 Download
press release and images of the
exhibition
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Herse.
A Tapestry Series by Willem de Pannemaker".
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