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After cartoons by Giulio Romano (1499-1546)
Italy, Mantua, c. 1540
Wool, silk, gold and silver threads
360 x 420 cm
Inv. no. 29 A
This tapestry is part of the “Children Playing” series and was woven in Mantua around 1540, probably at the workshop of the Flemish master Nicolas Karcher. It depicts an allegorical scene whose central motif is an elegant boat being steered by a female figure (Venus?) surrounded by a group of cupids who are fishing or helping her to steer.
Set in a bucolic landscape, the central scene is surmounted by a bower of vines holding hunting cupids. Several types of birds fly around the boat, including a bird of paradise with magnificent plumage that is about to be shot by one of the hunters. The upper centre of the tapestry bears the original arms of Cardinal Hercules Gonzaga of Mantua, the owner of this and the other five tapestries (three complete and two fragments) from the same series, also part of the Calouste Gulbenkian collection.
The cardinal’s initials HER MAN are also inscribed on a quiver held by a cupid in the lower section.
Calouste Gulbenkian purchased this series in 1920 and it was used to decorate the dining room in his Paris home.
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