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DOI Artikel:Piwocka, Magdalena: The Story of Noah and The Story of the Babel Tower from the tapestry collection of King Sigismund Augustus: replicas and transmutations
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32431#0092
86
stock. Almost every first edition was ordered by a client
who undertook to cover the immense costs of material
and labour 121. The second edition of The Story ofNoah for
Philip ii was woven by Willem Pannemaker, whereas the
Wawel series was made by several Brussels master weavers:
Pieter van Aelst the Younger, Willem de Kempeneer, Jan de
Kempeneer, and Jan van Tieghem. From whom did Pan-
nemaker receive (buy) the cartoons? Was Coxcie engaged
to make new (adapt the old) cartoons for Philip n’s second
edition 122. Is it possible that the first, ‘drowned’ version of
The Story ofNoah had been based on a reduced version of
new cartoons? Considering that the cartoon of The Animals
Entering the Ark (Madrid, Patrimonio Nacional) has been
attributed to Coxcie’s son, Raphael, did the father’s designs
remain in the family studio? What do we know today about
the cartoon trade apart from single references such as that
to the sale of Jan Raes’s designs after his death? Written
sources are practically silent about the Polish monarch’s
commission, and we may never succeed in shedding more
light on it 123.
121 This is attested by, e.g., a contract for the execution of the Con-
quest ofTunis set (J. H. Horn, Jan Cornelisz. Vermeyen. Painter of
Charles v and his Conquest ofTunis, Doornsprijk 1989, pp. 348-351),
the commission by the Brabant States of the Battle of Pavia to
be presented to Emperor Charles v (I. Buchanan, The “Battle of
Pavia” and the tapestry collection ofDon Carlos: new documenta-
tion, “The Burlington Magazine”, 144, June 2002, pp. 345-351), and
a contract for the Apocalypse, which was woven by Pannemaker
for Philip 11 (I. Buchanan, Designers, Weavers and entrepreneurs:
sixteenth century Flemish tapestries in the Patrimonio Nacional,
“The Burlington Magazine”, 134,1992, pp. 380-384.
122 In 2006, it was only Iain Buchanan who asked this question, though
he gave no answer (cf. n. 16). It seems impossible that Philip 11
should have engaged someone else for this task, considering that
the editio princeps and its first replica had just been executed -
between 1555 and 1556 - and especially that at that time Coxcie
received numerous prestigious commissions for paintings; for
instance, in 1556 the artist was to copy The Lamb Altarpiece, see,
e.g. J. Duverger, Kopieen van het “Lam Gods” - Retabel vam
Hubert an Jan van Eyck, “Bulletin des Musees Royaux des Beaux
Arts de Bruxelles”, 14, 1954, pp. 50-68; B. C. van den Boogert,
Michiel Coxcie, hofschilder in dienst van het Habsburgse huis, [in:]
Michel Coxcie, pictor regis. Internationaal colloquium, Mechelen,
5 en 6 juni 1992, Mechelen 1993 (Handelingen van de Koninkli-
jke Kring voor Oudheidkunde, Letteren en Kunst van Mechelen,
xcvi, 2), pp. 118-140; V. Fernandez Soriano, Michel Coxcie, pintor
grato a la casa de Habsburgo, “Archivo Espanol de Arte”, 81, 2008,
322, abril-junio, pp. 191-196.
123 There is one exception - a guarantee entered in the Certificatieboek
in Antwerp concerning the Polish king’s order for tapestries, dated
1559, with no indication of the subject or extent of the series, but
giving the amount of 12.00 ducats; the document has been discov-
ered by Dr Ryszard Szmydki - cf. R. Szmydki, Arrasy Zygmunta
Augusta w świetle antwerpskiej Certificatieboek z roku 1560, [in:]
Polska i Europa w dobie nowożytnej. TEurope moderne: nouveau
The only trace of Sigismund Augustus’s interest in
painted or drawn images with Old Testament subject matter
that could be associated with the Wawel tapestries is the
hitherto unknown bill of 1547 for ‘imagines’, amounting to
60 florins. The record reads: ‘Pro imaginibus. Die 14 Jan-
uari soluti cuidam Germano imagines infrascriptae, quae
datae sunt ad manus Michael [=videlicet] imagines Virtu-
tum 8: Fides, Spes, Charitas, Cognicio, Justicia, Prudentia,
Temperancia, Fortitudo. Iste 8 per sex 2 Litc’ fac [it] sex
16. Imagines vero 5 [=videlicet] Expedicio Caesaris ad (...)
Barbarosse, Naufragium eiusdem expeditionis, Ducis Cliviae
expeditio sub civitatem Flanderphiam, Expedicio Ducis
Julii Klowensis sub civitatem Flanisborge, Expulsio Regis
Galliae ex Neapolia per Caesarem 124. Iste Vero 5 per sex,
facit sex 5. Imagines vero 2 Creacio hominis et Archa Noe.
Emy (?) Diluvio per sex 1T/2 fac[it] sex 3. Summa facit pro
imaginibus Litc’ sex 24 faciunt per gr 30 polonicalis fl 60’ 125.
The word imagines might denote presentation drawings,
called vidimus, for tapestries, while the last two - ‘The
Creation of Man’ and ‘Noah’s Ark in the Flood’ - could be
related to the Wawel tapestries.
monde, nouvelle civilisation? Modern Europe - New World, New
Civilisation? Prace naukowe dedykowane Profesorowi Juliuszowi
A. Chrościckiemu, ed. A. Rottermund, Warszawa 2009, pp. 29-35.
Cf. also R. Szmydki, Kredytowe źródła fin ansowania tapiserii Zyg-
munta Augusta a ich wartość materialna w xvn wieku, “Barok.
Historia-Literatura-Sztuka”, 17, 2010, no. 1 (33), pp. 13-29.
124 These are in all probability episodes from Charles v’s campaign of
1542-1544 against France, during which the Duc de Cleves came to
Francis is aid on the front in the Netherlands (the peace of Venloo,
7 September 1543, put an end to this period of the war, ensuring the
unification of the Low Countries) - C. Terlinden, Charles Quint,
Empereur des Deux Mondes, Bruges 1965, pp. 163-172. There exists
archival evidence that Coxcie executed a number of cartoons for
tapestries which were to depict The Victories ofCharles v over the
Protestants; one of them represented the Battle of Miihlberg [1547],
as the painter himself testified in his statement of 21 Nov. 1550. -
J. K. Steppe, Vlaams tapitwerk van de i6e eeuw in Spaans koniklijk
bezit, [in:] Miscellanea Josef Duverger, 2, Gand 1968, pp. 758, 765.
For nine petits patrons (canvases!) Coxcie was paid 67 livres and
40 Flemish groschen. These designs were never woven. Can it be
that a comparable cycle of battle scenes was designed in the case
of the wars against the Duc de Cleves? For this see: M. Piwocka,
W kręgu mistrzów, pp. 38-39, notes 75-78.
125 Agad, Archives of the Crown Treasury (ask), Royal Accounts (rk)
137 (1546-1548), J. Lutomirski’s Register, fol. 20 r-v. Information
about this source was published by its discoverer Dr Marek Janicki,
of Warsaw University - M. A. Janicki, Imagines biblijne, alego-
ryczne, historyczne i heraldyczne zamawiane dla Zygmunta Augusta,
w świetle kilku zapisów rachunkowych z lat 1547-1548 (Przyczynek
do genezy królewskiej kolekcji arrasów), [in:] Amicissima. Studia
Magdalenae Piwocka oblata, Cracoviae mmx, t. 1, pp. 139-152.
Piwocka commented on this record in: W kręgu mistrzów wło-
skiego Cinquecenta, pp. 39-40.
stock. Almost every first edition was ordered by a client
who undertook to cover the immense costs of material
and labour 121. The second edition of The Story ofNoah for
Philip ii was woven by Willem Pannemaker, whereas the
Wawel series was made by several Brussels master weavers:
Pieter van Aelst the Younger, Willem de Kempeneer, Jan de
Kempeneer, and Jan van Tieghem. From whom did Pan-
nemaker receive (buy) the cartoons? Was Coxcie engaged
to make new (adapt the old) cartoons for Philip n’s second
edition 122. Is it possible that the first, ‘drowned’ version of
The Story ofNoah had been based on a reduced version of
new cartoons? Considering that the cartoon of The Animals
Entering the Ark (Madrid, Patrimonio Nacional) has been
attributed to Coxcie’s son, Raphael, did the father’s designs
remain in the family studio? What do we know today about
the cartoon trade apart from single references such as that
to the sale of Jan Raes’s designs after his death? Written
sources are practically silent about the Polish monarch’s
commission, and we may never succeed in shedding more
light on it 123.
121 This is attested by, e.g., a contract for the execution of the Con-
quest ofTunis set (J. H. Horn, Jan Cornelisz. Vermeyen. Painter of
Charles v and his Conquest ofTunis, Doornsprijk 1989, pp. 348-351),
the commission by the Brabant States of the Battle of Pavia to
be presented to Emperor Charles v (I. Buchanan, The “Battle of
Pavia” and the tapestry collection ofDon Carlos: new documenta-
tion, “The Burlington Magazine”, 144, June 2002, pp. 345-351), and
a contract for the Apocalypse, which was woven by Pannemaker
for Philip 11 (I. Buchanan, Designers, Weavers and entrepreneurs:
sixteenth century Flemish tapestries in the Patrimonio Nacional,
“The Burlington Magazine”, 134,1992, pp. 380-384.
122 In 2006, it was only Iain Buchanan who asked this question, though
he gave no answer (cf. n. 16). It seems impossible that Philip 11
should have engaged someone else for this task, considering that
the editio princeps and its first replica had just been executed -
between 1555 and 1556 - and especially that at that time Coxcie
received numerous prestigious commissions for paintings; for
instance, in 1556 the artist was to copy The Lamb Altarpiece, see,
e.g. J. Duverger, Kopieen van het “Lam Gods” - Retabel vam
Hubert an Jan van Eyck, “Bulletin des Musees Royaux des Beaux
Arts de Bruxelles”, 14, 1954, pp. 50-68; B. C. van den Boogert,
Michiel Coxcie, hofschilder in dienst van het Habsburgse huis, [in:]
Michel Coxcie, pictor regis. Internationaal colloquium, Mechelen,
5 en 6 juni 1992, Mechelen 1993 (Handelingen van de Koninkli-
jke Kring voor Oudheidkunde, Letteren en Kunst van Mechelen,
xcvi, 2), pp. 118-140; V. Fernandez Soriano, Michel Coxcie, pintor
grato a la casa de Habsburgo, “Archivo Espanol de Arte”, 81, 2008,
322, abril-junio, pp. 191-196.
123 There is one exception - a guarantee entered in the Certificatieboek
in Antwerp concerning the Polish king’s order for tapestries, dated
1559, with no indication of the subject or extent of the series, but
giving the amount of 12.00 ducats; the document has been discov-
ered by Dr Ryszard Szmydki - cf. R. Szmydki, Arrasy Zygmunta
Augusta w świetle antwerpskiej Certificatieboek z roku 1560, [in:]
Polska i Europa w dobie nowożytnej. TEurope moderne: nouveau
The only trace of Sigismund Augustus’s interest in
painted or drawn images with Old Testament subject matter
that could be associated with the Wawel tapestries is the
hitherto unknown bill of 1547 for ‘imagines’, amounting to
60 florins. The record reads: ‘Pro imaginibus. Die 14 Jan-
uari soluti cuidam Germano imagines infrascriptae, quae
datae sunt ad manus Michael [=videlicet] imagines Virtu-
tum 8: Fides, Spes, Charitas, Cognicio, Justicia, Prudentia,
Temperancia, Fortitudo. Iste 8 per sex 2 Litc’ fac [it] sex
16. Imagines vero 5 [=videlicet] Expedicio Caesaris ad (...)
Barbarosse, Naufragium eiusdem expeditionis, Ducis Cliviae
expeditio sub civitatem Flanderphiam, Expedicio Ducis
Julii Klowensis sub civitatem Flanisborge, Expulsio Regis
Galliae ex Neapolia per Caesarem 124. Iste Vero 5 per sex,
facit sex 5. Imagines vero 2 Creacio hominis et Archa Noe.
Emy (?) Diluvio per sex 1T/2 fac[it] sex 3. Summa facit pro
imaginibus Litc’ sex 24 faciunt per gr 30 polonicalis fl 60’ 125.
The word imagines might denote presentation drawings,
called vidimus, for tapestries, while the last two - ‘The
Creation of Man’ and ‘Noah’s Ark in the Flood’ - could be
related to the Wawel tapestries.
monde, nouvelle civilisation? Modern Europe - New World, New
Civilisation? Prace naukowe dedykowane Profesorowi Juliuszowi
A. Chrościckiemu, ed. A. Rottermund, Warszawa 2009, pp. 29-35.
Cf. also R. Szmydki, Kredytowe źródła fin ansowania tapiserii Zyg-
munta Augusta a ich wartość materialna w xvn wieku, “Barok.
Historia-Literatura-Sztuka”, 17, 2010, no. 1 (33), pp. 13-29.
124 These are in all probability episodes from Charles v’s campaign of
1542-1544 against France, during which the Duc de Cleves came to
Francis is aid on the front in the Netherlands (the peace of Venloo,
7 September 1543, put an end to this period of the war, ensuring the
unification of the Low Countries) - C. Terlinden, Charles Quint,
Empereur des Deux Mondes, Bruges 1965, pp. 163-172. There exists
archival evidence that Coxcie executed a number of cartoons for
tapestries which were to depict The Victories ofCharles v over the
Protestants; one of them represented the Battle of Miihlberg [1547],
as the painter himself testified in his statement of 21 Nov. 1550. -
J. K. Steppe, Vlaams tapitwerk van de i6e eeuw in Spaans koniklijk
bezit, [in:] Miscellanea Josef Duverger, 2, Gand 1968, pp. 758, 765.
For nine petits patrons (canvases!) Coxcie was paid 67 livres and
40 Flemish groschen. These designs were never woven. Can it be
that a comparable cycle of battle scenes was designed in the case
of the wars against the Duc de Cleves? For this see: M. Piwocka,
W kręgu mistrzów, pp. 38-39, notes 75-78.
125 Agad, Archives of the Crown Treasury (ask), Royal Accounts (rk)
137 (1546-1548), J. Lutomirski’s Register, fol. 20 r-v. Information
about this source was published by its discoverer Dr Marek Janicki,
of Warsaw University - M. A. Janicki, Imagines biblijne, alego-
ryczne, historyczne i heraldyczne zamawiane dla Zygmunta Augusta,
w świetle kilku zapisów rachunkowych z lat 1547-1548 (Przyczynek
do genezy królewskiej kolekcji arrasów), [in:] Amicissima. Studia
Magdalenae Piwocka oblata, Cracoviae mmx, t. 1, pp. 139-152.
Piwocka commented on this record in: W kręgu mistrzów wło-
skiego Cinquecenta, pp. 39-40.