125 - A wall hanging composed of three wool-and-silk tapestries inspired by the *Iliad*. These three tapestries are arranged to resemble a trompe-l’œil loggia opening onto a wooded landscape. Each panel is framed by two composite columns resting on a base adorned with mascarons; the shafts are decorated with garlands of fruit and topped with Corinthian capitals. The straight entablature supports a double garland, also laden with fruit, held in place by rings and featuring a midnight-blue cabochon at its center. The upper border is punctuated alternately by corbels, scrolls, and trompe-l’œil barbs that appear to hold the fabric in place. The undulating woodland that forms the background—crisscrossed by paths, ponds, and streams—is rendered in atmospheric perspective using a broad palette of blue and green tones, while farmhouses and mills evoke the Flemish countryside. The first tapestry depicts a group of two men and a woman: the woman is holding the arm of a warrior clad in a breastplate, who supports his head in a gesture of grief as a woman dressed in red runs toward him. In the second, this same warrior is led by two women toward a third, who hands him a spear and a red cloth headband. In the background, on the left, a hunter accompanied by his dog can be seen, and on the right, the body of a man being devoured by dogs. The third panel depicts four men armed with spears pointing out to a woman the warrior lying on the ground, supported by two other women. Audenarde, first half of the 17th century H.: 295 cm – W.: 446 cm H.: 288 cm – W.: 498 cm H.: 276 cm – W.: 313 cm (restorations, wear, damage)

A wall hanging composed of three wool-and-silk tapestries inspired by the *Iliad*. These three tapestries are arranged to resemble a trompe-l’œil loggia opening onto a wooded landscape. Each panel is framed by two composite columns resting on a base adorned with mascarons; the shafts are decorated with garlands of fruit and topped with Corinthian capitals. The straight entablature supports a double garland, also laden with fruit, held in place by rings and featuring a midnight-blue cabochon at its center. The upper border is punctuated alternately by corbels, scrolls, and trompe-l’œil barbs that appear to hold the fabric in place. The undulating woodland that forms the background—crisscrossed by paths, ponds, and streams—is rendered in atmospheric perspective using a broad palette of blue and green tones, while farmhouses and mills evoke the Flemish countryside. The first tapestry depicts a group of two men and a woman: the woman is holding the arm of a warrior clad in a breastplate, who supports his head in a gesture of grief as a woman dressed in red runs toward him. In the second, this same warrior is led by two women toward a third, who hands him a spear and a red cloth headband. In the background, on the left, a hunter accompanied by his dog can be seen, and on the right, the body of a man being devoured by dogs. The third panel depicts four men armed with spears pointing out to a woman the warrior lying on the ground, supported by two other women. Audenarde, first half of the 17th century H.: 295 cm – W.: 446 cm H.: 288 cm – W.: 498 cm H.: 276 cm – W.: 313 cm (restorations, wear, damage) These three views of wooded areas known as “boscaiges” (bocages), which unfold from a loggia in the foreground, are characteristic of the work of the Audenarde weavers between the mid-16th and late 17th centuries. The architectural framework features several variations based on a common model, although there are similarities in the sculpted decoration of the columns, the mascarons, and the rich garlands of fruit. The latter, which are particularly elaborate in the tapestries we are presenting, can be compared to a five-panel tapestry series held by the Louvre Museum and the Ghent Museum, depicting the Labors of Hercules (c. 1545– 1565). The remarkable attention paid to atmospheric perspective has few equals among 17th-century Flemish works. The workshop distinguishes itself here through its mastery of a subtle palette of hues, evident in the reflections of plants on the water of the ponds and the play of light on the trees, whose foliage is enhanced by light speckles. Another distinctive feature of the Oudenaarde workshops is the deliberate and playful blurring of the lines between trompe-l’oeil architecture, the landscape it seems to reveal, and the scrollwork of the entablature, reminding the viewer that this is indeed a tapestry. In these Edenic landscapes, tapestry makers frequently depict hunters, shepherds, or animals—real or fantastical—without them being part of actual stories. The same is true of allusions to ancient texts, whose main episodes are sometimes reimagined to suit commissions and without ever overpowering the natural setting of these “boscaiges.” The scenes depicted here nevertheless evoke several passages from the *Iliad*, although it is difficult to identify them with certainty. The first could represent Achilles’ grief upon learning of the death of Patroclus, killed by Hector. The second likely depicts Thetis, Achilles’ mother, handing her son—clad in the armor forged by Hephaestus—the spear and headband with which he will avenge the death of Patroclus. In the background, the body being devoured by dogs could allude to the opening lines of the *Iliad* (I, 1–5), which lament the loss of “so many valiant heroes whose bodies served as food for the dogs.” The third panel could thus depict the death of Achilles: having ignored his mother’s warnings that he would die if he faced Hector, he is killed by Paris with an arrow guided by Apollo. Source consulted: Guy Delmarcel, *Flemish Tapestry from the 15th to the 18th Century*, Lannoo, 1999.