Rocznik Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie (2(38).2013)

Piotr Borusowski Esther before Ahasuerus: A Design for a Tapestry by Pieter Coecke van Aelst

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in his oeuvre (in the case of the latter work), or at least within the orbit of his influence. Esther
before Ahasuerus thus differs slightly from Coecke’s drawings. It is difficult to deny its careful
composition and its masterful use of perspective shortcuts, for example in Esther’s right foot
and in the left foot of the woman standing behind her or the architecture in the background.
Can these divergences from features of Coecke’s definitively attributed works be explained
by the fact that this drawing is a preliminary, spontaneous sketch made early on in the proc-
ess of designing a tapestry? May the fact that this sketch does not stylistically fully match
the designs of the 1530s suggest that it was made in the next decade of his artistic activity?
Finally, can the slightly different stroke in this sketch and the clearly calmer expression of
the figures mean that this is not the artist’s own work but someone’s from his circle (as Maria
Mrozihska suggests)?
Coecke’s style evolved over the more than twenty years of his activity as an artist. His
stroke also differs according to the drawing techniques and the function of a given sketch,
and thus he made his designs for stained glass windows, paintings and tapestries differently.
The obvious disparities between his 1530s and ‘40s works have challenged researchers of not
only Coecke’s drawings. Thomas P. Campbell describes it perceptively: “The ‘Saint Paul,’
‘Deadly Sins’ and ‘Joshua’ series constitute a coherent group of designs with a very distinc-
tive style. Typified by moments of high drama, featuring protagonists in violent action and
extreme contraposto, these designs project an excitement that is often accentuated by unusual
viewpoints, complex compositions, dramatic atmospheric effects and elaborate architectural
settings. Yet the characteristic approach of these examples probably leads us astray when we
attempt to assess the character of Coecke’s later tapestry designs. This is the case because,
as autograph examples in other media demonstrate, his later work incorporates figures of
greater refinement and passages of calmer linear rhythms, although they do not altogether
abandon the explosive compositions of former days.”28 It was likely this very change and the
pronounced differences between the 1530s works and the later ones that gave Marker serious
doubts about the authorship of several of them.29
In attempting to define the characteristics of Coecke’s later style, Campbell named a repre-
sentative group of works as the starting point for further analysis. Triumph ofMordecai, dated
c. 1545, is the only drawing in this group.30 Its brushstroke is frugal, there is not a redundant
line and the wash is equally spare. There is no shaky, moving, fluid stroke here that would make
arcs, waves or serpentines to enrich the composition, which is very characteristic of Coecke’s
earlier work.31 But even more importantly, the expression of both gestures and clothing is
subdued and less visible, especially in the figures of the women on the right. Further features
of Coecke’s later style are common to several works other than drawings. In Descentfrom the
Cross,32 the central panel of the Passion triptych dated 1545-50, the figures standing under the

28 Campbell, Tapestry in the Renaissance..., op. cit., pp. 374-5.
29 Marlier, op. cit., pp. 345-7.
30 Pen, brown ink, grey wash, paper, 16.9 x 28 cm, inv. no. 20736, Cabinet des Dessins, Louvre.
31 Even though the drawing is a good point of reference for the artist’s late works because of its composi-
tional aspect and the types of figures used, attributing it to Coecke because of a totally different, less free drawing
style is questionable. The sketch is probably a workshop copy, Nachzeichnung, which may be recording Coecke’s
original composition. This supports its attribution to a sixteenth-century Netherlandish artist (as the Louvre’s in-
ternet database lists it). See Aman conduisant Mardochée, Inventaire du Département des Arts Graphiques, Musée
du Louvre [online] [retrieved: 5 April 2013], at: <http://arts-graphiques.louvre.fr/fo/visite?srv=na>.
32 Museu Nacional de Arte Amiga, Lisbon.