HERALDIC TAPESTRY, ROYAL MANUFACTURE OF BRUSSELS, CARTOON BY DAVID TENIERS THE YOUNGER, MANUFACTURE OF WILLIAM VAN LEEFDAEL, DATED 1684 Cm 320X370 Silk and metal threads make up the coat of arms of Count Ayala of Fuensalida, on his knees the depiction of the god of time Cronos, around it putti and flowers Signed lower left: d. Tenniers: inv pinx 1684 Signed lower right: gill.van leefdael fecit and bb (Brussels/Brabant) In good state of preservation ARMORIAL ROYAL MANIFACTURE OF BRUSSELS TAPESTRY FROM DAVID TENIERS THE YOUNG AND MANIFACTURE OF WILLIAM VAN LEEFDAEL, 1684; GOOD CONDITION There is a version of this argument woven by Leyniers in the collections of the Bank of Spain https://coleccion.bde.es/wca/es/secciones/coleccion/obras/triunfo-del-amor-y-la-eternidad-sobre-el-tiempo-t_17.html Lit. Possibly published: Heinrich Göbel, Tapestries of the Lowlands, New York, 1924, fig. 185. Most probably the patron was Don Antonio López de Ayala y Velasco, 9th Count of Fuensalida and an important authority in the reign of Charles II. We know that, during this, the count held, among others, the positions of Councillor of State, Viceroy of Navarre, Governor and Captain General of Galicia or Governor of Milan. The tapestry must have been produced during his time as viceroy, lieutenant and captain general of Sardinia, a responsibility he assumed from the end of 1682 and at least until March 1685. The presence of the painter's mark is a novelty in Flemish tapestry in the mid 17th century. According to Guy Delmarcel, the first time the artist's signature appears woven is in the Allegory of Time series designed by Jan van den Hoecke (1611-1651), and this fact is not without important connotations in relation to the critical consideration of tapestry. The introduction of this practice (hitherto undocumented) must be understood, in fact, as a way to claim the artistic character of tapestry or, which is the same thing, to claim its presence within the selected group of Liberal Arts as 'woven painting'. The extraordinary fineness of the fabric (90 hr/dm) and, the delicacy of the nuances it provides, seems to abound in this desire to demonstrate the painterly qualities that high school art can achieve. And so it is that this attachment; in principle fundamentally heraldic; becomes clothed in moral content and, following the commonplace of ut pictura poesis, truly acquires the nature of 'silent poetry'. Jan Leyniers was part of one of the most important and oldest tapestry makers in Brussels, whose activity dates back to the 16th century and lasted until the second half of the 18th century. Jean's mark appears in important series such as the History of the Life of Moses (Vienna and Palazzo Clerici in Milan) or several editions of the History of Alexander according to cartoons by Jacob Jordaens (Philadelphia Museum of Art, Palazzo Chigi in Rome, Almudena Cathedral in Madrid, etc.). Jean Leyniers' workshops also produced several series of the History of Meleager woven from drawings by Charles Le Brun (currently distributed in museums in European cities such as St. Petersburg, Stockholm or Chichester, UK). Willem van Leefdael was a member of another well-known family of Brussels lictors whose workshops flourished in the 17th century. He was active as a weaver-entrepreneur from 1656 and at least until 1684. Besides this collaboration with Leyniers in the tapestries of the Counts of Fuensalida, it is known that he also participated in the production of several series together with the Brussels weaver Gérard Peemans. Van Leefdael's production focused mainly on the life and work of great personalities of antiquity, so that their marks appear on tapestries dedicated to the stories of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, Titus and Vespasian, Constantine or Scipio.