Studia Waweliana (5.1996)

Barbara died. The king left Cracow. to return here only twiee
again. in 1553 and 1559, each time for less than six months.
His plan to maintain a magnificent court had collapsed even
before its began to be fully carried into effect.

By the end of June 1553 the biblical tapestries were already
at the Wawel but we do not know from when. The next ones
may have arrived in succession, but - contrary to the opinion
held hitherto - the time of their execution should not be shifted
to as late as the 1560s, by attributing to Dermoyen the delivei-y
of the last sets. What we do know for certain is that from 1560,

or perhaps from an even earlier date, the king, behaving in a
manner untypical of his time and of the pT-evailing vogue or
custom, accumulated exclusively black-and-white decorative tex-
tiles. By that time he must have possessed the whole tapestry
collection showing a wealth of colours, vibrant with life in its
Mannerist form, It seems that the date 1560 present on the
„throne" tapestry - Krzysztof Krupskis gift to Sigismund Augu-
stus - closes the period of execution and delivery of the king's
tapestries which today decorate the place of their original desti-
nation, the Wawel castle.