[Sidenote:
_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.
[Illustration:
_The Vintage_ No. 5
]
[Illustration:
_Entombment on Millefleurs_ No. 8
]
This piece was probably woven under Pasquier Grenier at Tournai, as were
the _Wars of Troy_, on which there are some documents.
[Sidenote: Lent by _P. W. French & Company_.]
This tapestry presents with extraordinary vividness the fury, din,
excessive effort, hot excitement, and blinding confusion of crowded
hand-to-hand conflicts that marked mediæval warfare. It must have been
conceived and rendered by an eye-witness who knew how to select and
assemble the raw facts of the situation with such honesty and directness
that an overwhelming impression of force and tumult is created, and it was
woven for patrons, the fighting Dukes of Burgundy, by whom every gruesome
incident would be observed with relish and every fine point of individual
combat noted with a shrewd and appraising eye.
[Sidenote: 8]